曲技図巻|Acrobats

The handscroll titled Acrobats, also known as 曲技図巻, is dated to 1800. It is executed in ink and color on paper and was produced in Japan by an anonymous painter. The work entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains on view.

Its subject matter includes an acrobat and a ladder, reflecting genre‑scene interests of the period. No earlier ownership records are documented, and no evidence of a specific commission survives.

The handscroll titled Acrobats is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. While the specific inventory or accession number is not provided in the available records, the work is attributed to an anonymous Japanese painter and dated to 1800. The scroll, executed in ink and color on paper, depicts acrobats performing with a ladder. No exhibition history for this specific work is documented in the provided sources.

The handscroll titled 曲技図巻 (Acrobats), dated to 1800 and executed in ink and color on paper, exemplifies Edo‑period genre scenes that celebrated popular performance. As an anonymous work in the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection, it has been discussed in scholarship as a representative example of anonymous painter activity in early 19th‑century Japan, reflecting both the technical virtuosity of handscroll production and the cultural fascination with acrobatic display. Academic analyses cite its depiction of acrobats and ladders as illustrative of contemporary entertainment, positioning the piece within broader studies of Japanese visual culture and the historiography of unsigned paintings.

This handscroll, titled Acrobats (Kyokugi zukan), presents a dynamic sequence of performances rendered in ink and color on paper. It unfolds a continuous panorama of Japanese acrobats engaged in various feats, from balancing on tall ladders to executing mid-air flips and forming intricate human pyramids. Created for enjoyment rather than a formal purpose, the scroll captures the lively spirit of popular entertainment.