IKE TAIGA. Calligraphy of a Tang-dynasty poem, Maple Bridge Night Mooring""

IKE TAIGA (1723-1776)

Calligraphy of a Tang-dynasty poem, Maple Bridge Night Mooring""

Calligraphy of a Tang-dynasty poem, "Maple Bridge Night Mooring". Artist: Ike Taiga (Japanese, 1723-1776). Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image (each panel): 53 1/4 x 22 1/8 in. (135.3 x 56.2 cm) Overall: 68 3/4 x 72 3/4 in. (174.6 x 184.8 cm). Date: ca. 1770. During the Edo period Ike Taiga, one of Japan's most prolific literati artists, excelled in a special calligraphic style called karayo, or Chinese-style calligraphy. This screen shows Taiga's execution of a famous Chinese poem, "Maple Bridge Night Mooring," composed by Zhang Ji in the eighth century. Translated, the poem reads: The moon sets, crows sing, and frost fills the sky. Maple trees along the river and fires in fishing boats face me, sleepless with lament. The bell of Cold Mountain Temple outside Suzhou tolls, At midnight, the sound reaches this boat. The calligraphy is flamboyant and various: the characters are large and small, the ink wet and dry, and the lines thick and thin. The work holds a powerful spiritual tension in its fluctuating verticality.

Two-panel folding screen; ink on paper

Edo period (1615-1868)

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Album / Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Model: No - Property: No
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4200 x 3151 px | 37.9 MB

35.6 x 26.7 cm | 14.0 x 10.5 in (300 dpi)