柳鷺図 (Ryūro zu)|Heron and Willow

Created in 1453 by the Japanese artist Sesshū Tōyō, this hanging scroll executed in ink on paper originated in Japan. The work, which depicts a heron within a landscape composition, is currently held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While the specific circumstances of its commission and the details of its ownership chain prior to entering the museum are not recorded in the available documentation, the piece is attributed to Sesshū's output in the mid-15th century.

The hanging scroll titled 'Heron and Willow' (Japanese: 柳鷺図) is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection in New York. It was created by the fifteenth-century Japanese master Sesshū Tōyō in 1453 and is recorded as a landscape painting depicting a bird. The work measures 99.7 cm in height and 40.6 cm in width.

Exhibition histories for the piece are not documented in the sources consulted, and no accession number is provided in the available records.

Sesshū Tōyō (1420–1506) is recognized as a pivotal figure in Japanese medieval painting, especially for his contributions to suiboku‑ga and landscape imagery. The hanging scroll dated 1453, titled 柳鷺図 (Heron and Willow), exemplifies his interest in natural subjects.

The work belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection, where its rendering of a heron amid willow foliage is regarded as a representative example in studies of early Japanese ink landscapes and informs broader scholarship on the genre.

Heron and Willow is a hanging scroll executed in ink on paper, attributed to the Japanese painter Sesshū Tōyō and dated to 1453. The composition presents a solitary heron poised on one leg beneath a slender willow, rendered with restrained brushwork that allows the paper’s surface to remain largely visible. The work exemplifies the minimalist aesthetic of the Muromachi period, where simplicity and suggestion dominate the visual narrative.