Artwork
松に鷹図大津絵|Ōtsu-e of Falcon on a Pine Tree
松に鷹図大津絵|Ōtsu-e of Falcon on a Pine Tree is an ink painting. It dates from 1749 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The hanging scroll depicts a solitary falcon perched upon a pine branch, rendered in ink and color on paper.
- Accession no.
- 1975.268.148
- Credit line
- The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The piece is a landscape-genre painting created by an anonymous artist in Japan during the mid-eighteenth century.
The work depicts a falcon perched within a pine tree setting, executed in ink and color on paper. As an Ōtsu-e, this Japanese folk-painting tradition often used animals and landscapes to convey cultural meanings, though the precise iconographic interpretation of this 1749 example is not detailed in the available records. The composition centers on the bird of prey, the subject identified in the artwork's classification. The piece is a landscape-genre painting created by an anonymous artist in Japan during the mid-eighteenth century.
Technique & Style
The work is executed as a hanging scroll, a format typical of Japanese portable paintings. It is painted with ink and polychrome pigments on paper, employing the brushwork and color washes characteristic of the Ōtsu-e tradition. The composition places a falcon perched on a pine branch against a minimal background.
The scroll was produced in Japan in 1749, during the Edo period, and is now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
History & Provenance
Created in Japan in 1749, this hanging scroll depicting a falcon on a pine tree was produced by an anonymous artist. Executed in ink and color on paper, it is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. No details regarding its original commission, earlier ownership, or the circumstances of its acquisition by the museum are provided in the available records.
No specific accession or inventory number is recorded in the available sources, and no exhibition history is documented.
Overview
The hanging scroll depicts a solitary falcon perched upon a pine branch, rendered in ink and color on paper. Executed in the Ōtsu-e tradition, the work belongs to a genre of inexpensive, popular prints produced for travelers in eighteenth‑century Japan.
Context
Ōtsu-e emerged in the Edo period as a visual counterpart to the era’s burgeoning travel culture. Artists produced a wide range of subjects, mythology, humor, daily life, using inexpensive materials, allowing art to reach a broader public beyond elite patronage.
Artist & collection
