Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an ink painting by the Baroque artist Kanō Yasunobu. It dates from 1649 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
A black fish swims through pale blue water, lotus leaves floating above, the background just soft ink washes fading into nothing. Kano Yasunobu painted it in 1649, when Japanese artists often used ink like watercolor. The fish has little detail, but the bleeding ink gives it life, and a few quick strokes make the leaves feel light on the water.
Subject & Meaning
Executed in ink and color on silk, the work utilizes these specific natural elements to define its visual subject.
Created in 1649 by the Japanese artist Kanō Yasunobu, this hanging scroll presents a landscape composition centered on the interplay between lotus flowers and fish. Executed in ink and color on silk, the work utilizes these specific natural elements to define its visual subject. The depiction of lotuses alongside fish draws upon traditional iconographic associations found in East Asian art, where the lotus often symbolizes purity and spiritual emergence from muddy waters, while fish can represent abundance or freedom.
By integrating these motifs within a landscape format, the painting establishes a serene natural setting that reflects the aesthetic and symbolic conventions of its era and genre.
Technique & Style
Created in 1649, this work by Kano Yasunobu is executed as a hanging scroll using ink and color applied to a silk support. The piece measures 119.7 cm in height and 47.6 cm in width. Stylistically, it belongs to the landscape genre, a classification within the broader category of paintings.
The formal composition depicts specific natural elements, including lotus flowers and fish. Originating from Japan, the artwork's technique involves the traditional application of pigments and ink onto the silk medium, characteristic of the period's scroll painting practices.
History & Provenance
The work titled Untitled was produced in 1649 by the Japanese painter Kano Yasunobu, who worked in the tradition of the Kanō school in Japan. Executed as a hanging scroll in ink and color on silk, the piece portrays a lotus and a fish, subjects documented in the artist’s oeuvre. Its creation history is confined to records of its completion in Japan, after which it entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains on display.
No commissioning patron is noted in the available documentation, and the work’s early ownership prior to museum acquisition is not recorded.
The painting is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where it is recorded as accession number 1975.1.110. It entered the museum’s collection in 1975 through the Rogers Fund. The work has been exhibited once, in 1983, as part of the exhibition Painting and Calligraphy from the Metropolitan’s Japanese Collection, held at the museum in New York.
Overview
Untitled is a hanging scroll painting by Kano Yasunobu, created in 1649. Executed with ink and subtle color on silk, this work presents a serene landscape focused on aquatic life. It depicts a solitary fish swimming beneath floating lotus leaves, rendered with a minimalist approach that emphasizes the natural forms and the fluidity of the medium.
Artist & collection
Artist
Kanō Yasunobu (狩野 安信, 10 January 1614 – 1 October 1685) was a Japanese painter of the Kanō school of painting during the Edo period.
