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'Dogwood Tree', By Unknown, Japanese Antique Scroll

Name: 'Dogwood Tree', By Unknown, Japanese Antique Scroll
Brand: Unknown
Price: 300 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

This Antique Japanese Scroll is a depiction of a dogwood tree. Painted in a traditional Japanese style with watercolor, the brush strokes are somewhat opaque and loosely applied. The trunk of the dogwood tree emerges from the bottom, right hand corner, painted more opaquely towards the bottom and gaining more pigment up the trunk towards the top of the tree. Thinner branches stem off from the trunk, with small, light brown leaves and white dogwood flower blossoms. The blooms become more concentrated towards the top of the tree, and one thin, singular branch towers above the concentrated area of flowers and leaves with four small, pinkish buds and four small brown leaves, reaching just below the top edge of the composition. The painting is bordered by an ornate, beige silk fabric. The traditional styles of Japanese scrolls are paper upon silk. This hanging scroll's mounting style is specifically known as the "Yisebiao" style. The painting made on paper, is known as "huaxin" (畫心; "painted heart"), and within the silk border of the work, the upper part is called tiantou (天頭; "Heaven") while the lower part is called ditou (地頭; "Earth"). Above the tiantou, at the very top of the scroll is a thin wooden bar, called tiangan (天杆) and there is a cylindrical bar made of bone at the bottom of this scroll, called a digan (地杆), which is attached to give the scroll weight at the bottom as that it hangs properly onto a wall, but it also acts as a base to roll up a scroll for storage when the artwork is not on display. According to Anna Willmann, from the Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "It is believed that the handscroll was invented in India sometime before the fourth century B.C., where it was primarily used for religious texts, and came to China by the first century A.D. The introduction of the handscroll to Japan came several centuries later, as part of the spread of Buddhism from the mainland around the sixth century, along with many other cultural innovations, including the Chinese writing system. The earliest extant illustrated handscroll in Japan is a work showing episodes from the life of the Buddha, and was created in the eighth century."

Dimensions:

Height: 48 in (121.92 cm)Width: 12 in (30.48 cm)

Medium:

Silk,Paper,Watercolor

Movement & Style:

Edo

Period:

20th Century

Condition:

Gallery Location:

Oklahoma City, OK

Reference Number: