Who painted 雪兎図|Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit?

雪兎図|Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit was painted by Isoda Koryūsai in ca. 1780.

Where can I see 雪兎図|Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit?

雪兎図|Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit is held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

What movement is 雪兎図|Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit?

雪兎図|Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit is associated with Romanticism.

Artwork

雪兎図|Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit

Isoda Koryūsai , 1780

雪兎図|Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit is an ink painting by the Romanticist artist Isoda Koryūsai. It dates from 1780 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This hanging scroll, titled Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit, depicts a serene winter scene rendered in ink and color on silk.

Accession no.: 14.76.32
Credit line: Charles Stewart Smith Collection, Gift of Mrs. Charles Stewart Smith, Charles Stewart Smith Jr., and Howard Caswell Smith, in memory of Charles Stewart Smith, 1914

About this work

Subject & Meaning

The work depicts a woman delicately painting the eyes of a snow rabbit while a boy holding a musical instrument watches nearby, all set against a snowy landscape. This genre scene combines the acts of artistic creation and playful observation, with the musical instrument suggesting leisure and the woman’s gesture implying the animation of an otherwise inert form. Together, the boy, the instrument, the rabbit, and the snow evoke a moment of innocent wonder and the transient beauty of winter, highlighting the interplay between human creativity and nature’s fleeting gifts.

Technique & Style

The composition presents a boy, a woman, a rabbit, a musical instrument and a snowy landscape, characteristic of Koryūsai’s ukiyo‑e inspired narrative style.

The work is a hanging scroll executed in ink and polychrome pigments on silk support. As a genre_scene painting by Isoda Koryūsai, it employs delicate brushwork to render the figures and setting, with the ink outlines defining forms and the applied colors providing subtle tonal variation. The composition presents a boy, a woman, a rabbit, a musical instrument and a snowy landscape, characteristic of Koryūsai’s ukiyo‑e inspired narrative style. No details regarding the painting’s current condition or conservation history are provided in the sources.

History & Provenance

The painting known as 雪兎図 (Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit) was created in 1780 by the Japanese artist Isoda Koryūsai as a hanging scroll executed in ink and color on silk. Its subject includes a boy with a musical instrument, a rabbit, snow, and a woman. Both the artist’s catalogue entry and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s record confirm the work’s date, medium, and place of production in Japan.

The scroll entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection and has remained there, constituting the documented ownership chain. No additional commissioning details or subsequent owners are recorded in the available sources.

The painting Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit by Isoda Koryūsai is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Its accession number is 1975.268.10. The work was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the 1975 acquisition display, following its accession that year.

Overview

This hanging scroll, titled Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit, depicts a serene winter scene rendered in ink and color on silk. It captures a boy kneeling in the snow, meticulously adding eyes to a snow sculpture of a rabbit, while an attentive woman observes nearby. The composition conveys a sense of quietude and shared domesticity, focusing on a simple, yet meaningful, seasonal activity.