Bamboo and Plum Tree

19th century

Kameda Bosai , Artist Sakai Hoitsu , Artist Suzuki Kiitsu , Artist

On View

Japanese Art, Level 1, North Wing

Bamboo and Plum Tree: 1 of Collection Gallery

Bamboo and Plum Tree: 2 of Collection Gallery

Bamboo and Plum Tree: 3 of Collection Gallery

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Catalogue Raisonné

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About the Artwork

This scroll is a collaboration by three of the most important artists of their time, two of whom were master and student. The painting was created in three stages. Hoitsu, the master, first painted bamboo in the upper left; Kiitsu, his pupil, then added a blossoming plum branch at the bottom, leaving space for Bōsai to add a poem about these plants in energetic calligraphy. Because bamboo is evergreen and the plum tree blooms in winter at the time of the Lunar New Year, these motifs symbolize longevity and renewal in east Asian art. They also symbolize a Confucian principle of uprightness and perseverance. It is likely the painting was composed when the three friends were together celebrating the New Year. It is unusual for these three artists to work in ink; they are usually associated with boldly colored decorative screens.
From Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 89 (2015)

Title Bamboo and Plum Tree

Artwork Date 19th century

Makers Kameda Bosai (Artist) Japanese, 1752-1826 Sakai Hoitsu (Artist) Japanese, 1761-1828 Suzuki Kiitsu (Artist) Japanese, 1796-1858

Medium Ink on paper

Dimensions Overall: 71 1/4 × 13 inches (181 × 33 cm) Image: 39 inches × 10 3/4 inches (99.1 × 27.3 cm) Installed: 72 inches × 13 1/8 inches × 7/8 inches (182.9 × 33.3 × 2.2 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department Asian Art

Credit Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2013.43

Markings

Inscriptions Inscribed, along right Inscribed, at lower right corner Inscribed, at left

Marks Stamps, in red, following each inscription: [three seals]

Provenance

(Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, New York, New York, USA);
2013-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Emura, Tomoko. “Rinpa Artists and the Samurai Class.” Bulletin of the DIA 88, no. 1/4 (2014): p. 80 [ref. fig. 4 on p. 91].

Augustin, Birgitta. “Idealist Painting and the Samurai.” Bulletin of the DIA 88, no. 1/4 (2014): pp. 89, 91-92 (fig. 4).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Sakai Hoitsu; Suzuki Kiitsu; Kameda Bosai, Bamboo and Plum Tree, 19th century, ink on paper. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, 2013.43.