Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an unspecified painting by the Joseon dynasty painting artist Shibata Zeshin. It dates from 1837 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
These two elements constitute the visual content of the composition, presenting a simple natural motif without additional narrative or allegorical detail.
The work is classified as a painting in the landscape genre, and its depicted subject consists of a bird and a tree. These two elements constitute the visual content of the composition, presenting a simple natural motif without additional narrative or allegorical detail. The bird appears alongside a tree, forming the primary iconographic reference within the piece.
No further symbolic meaning or interpretation is provided in the source material, leaving the representation limited to the literal depiction of a bird and a tree within the landscape context.
Technique & Style
This 1837 album leaf by Shibata Zeshin is executed in lacquer on paper, a technique that adapts traditional urushi lacquerwork to a small-scale painting format. Classified as a painting, the work takes a landscape subject depicting a bird and a tree. The Metropolitan Museum of Art records its dimensions as 11.4 cm in height by 8.9 cm in width, consistent with the intimate album-leaf format.
The use of lacquer on paper rather than the more conventional wood or other rigid supports reflects Zeshin's signature experimentation with the medium, treating lacquer as a painterly material capable of fine surface handling on a flexible ground.
History & Provenance
Untitled is a lacquer-on-paper album leaf painted by Shibata Zeshin in 1837 in Japan. The work portrays a bird perched among a tree, a motif documented in both the artist’s catalog and the museum’s catalogue entry.
The painting measures 11.4 cm by 8.9 cm and is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection, where it has been displayed as part of the institution’s Japanese art holdings. The piece exemplifies the Edo-period tradition of lacquer painting, merging decorative technique with naturalistic subject matter.
Untitled (1837) is a lacquer-on-paper album leaf by Shibata Zeshin, classified as a landscape painting depicting a bird and a tree. The work is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it is catalogued under the museum’s collection; its accession number is not specified in the available records. The piece measures 11.4 cm by 8.9 cm. Exhibition history is not documented in the sources consulted. The work was created in Japan in 1837.
Overview
Shibata Zeshin's Untitled is a painting from 1837, rendered on an album leaf using lacquer on paper. This work presents a landscape featuring avian subjects, characteristic of Zeshin's diverse artistic output. It exemplifies his innovative approach to traditional Japanese materials and forms, offering a distinct visual experience within the realm of painting.
Artist & collection
- 明 十竹齋書畫譜 四開|Leaf from the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy
Birds and Flowers
Plum Trees
Winter Scene with Plum Trees and Pheasants (Birds Left)
Japanese Drawing
Drinking in the Moonlight
池大雅筆 「大雅堂画弁題詩」|Pine Tree and Calligraphy
Beckoning of Solitude (Zhaoyin tu)
Bamboo
宋馬遠雪灘雙鷺 軸
Branching Stump
Untitled