Who painted Untitled?

Untitled was painted by Kano Kōi in early 17th century.

Where can I see Untitled?

Untitled is held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

What movement is Untitled?

Untitled is associated with Baroque.

Untitled by Kano Kōi (early 17th century) · Meaning & Museum

About this work

Subject & Meaning

Created in 1618 by the Japanese artist Kano Kōi, this triptych of hanging scrolls depicts a landscape scene populated by specific human and nautical figures.

Created in 1618 by the Japanese artist Kano Kōi, this triptych of hanging scrolls depicts a landscape scene populated by specific human and nautical figures. The composition features a boat carrying a man and a woman, elements explicitly identified as the primary subjects of the work. While the painting is classified within the landscape genre, its iconography centers on the interaction between these figures and their setting on the water.

The visual narrative is defined by the presence of the vessel and its two occupants, set against the broader natural environment. As a work from the early seventeenth century, the piece presents a straightforward representation of travel or leisure on the water, focusing on the relationship between the figures and the landscape without additional symbolic complexity noted in the available records.

Technique & Style

This work is executed as a triptych of hanging scrolls, produced in ink and color on paper. The three-panel format allows the landscape composition to unfold across adjoining vertical supports, each measuring 118.1 cm in height and 48.3 cm in width. The handling combines monochrome ink with applied color, a standard convention of early seventeenth-century Japanese painting that permitted tonal washes to define topography while pigment accents highlighted figures and narrative elements.

Within this tripartite arrangement, the artist depicts boats, men, and women, integrating human activity into the broader landscape setting. The medium and support are consistent with the hanging-scroll tradition favored by the Kano workshop for both devotional and secular subjects.

History & Provenance

Untitled, a 1618 triptych of hanging scrolls by Kano Kōi, was executed in Japan using ink and color on paper; the work portrays a boat, a man, and a woman. It belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which records its inception as 1618 and documents its dimensions (118.1 cm × 48.3 cm). The painting’s creation is situated within the early Edo period landscape tradition, reflecting the artist’s role in that movement. Its current ownership traces to the museum’s collection, indicating a continuous institutional provenance since acquisition.

The triptych is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as recorded in the Wikidata entry for the work. No accession number, specific gallery location, or exhibition history is documented in the available sources, and no prior loans or display records are noted beyond its current institutional holding.

Context

Kano Kōi’s Untitled (1618) exemplifies the Kanō school’s landscape tradition, combining ink and color on paper in a triptych of hanging scrolls. Depicting a boat, a man, and a woman, the work reflects early Edo‑period aesthetic interests in narrative scenery and naturalistic detail. Classified as a landscape painting, it was created in Japan and later entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it serves as a representative example of 17th‑century Japanese scroll art.

Its provenance and genre inform understanding of how landscape subjects were employed within the Kanō school’s broader oeuvre.

Overview

This untitled triptych comprises three hanging scrolls, executed in ink and color on paper. The paintings depict a serene landscape featuring figures in vibrant robes, towering pine trees, a winding river, and a boat traversing under a muted sky. The work exemplifies a tranquil, almost dreamlike aesthetic, characteristic of its period.