Gazing at a Waterfall

観瀑図

1790

Tani Bunchō 谷文晁

(Japanese, 1763–1841)
Painting: 112.5 x 51.1 cm (44 5/16 x 20 1/8 in.); Mounted: 214 x 54.5 cm (84 1/4 x 21 7/16 in.)
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Location: 235A Japanese

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Did You Know?

Drive about eight hours west of Shanghai to get to Mount Lu, the mountain range likely alluded to in this painting.

Description

Artist Tani Bunchō painted this image in a mountain pavilion during winter. He inscribed it with two lines of a poem: “The stone cliff of layered rocks is extremely high. Waterfalls tumbling from the skies reverberate in the clouds.” The scholarly figure and attendant carrying his qin (a stringed instrument) are set amid majestically soaring mountains in China. For many people in Japan at the time, the image would call to mind a poem about a waterfall at Mount Lu by Chinese poet Li Bai (701–762).
Gazing at a Waterfall

Gazing at a Waterfall

1790

Tani Bunchō

(Japanese, 1763–1841)
Japan, Edo period (1615-1868)

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