Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an ink painting. It dates from 1749 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This hanging scroll, executed in ink and color on paper, portrays a solitary woman in a flowing red robe engaged in a board game.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
As a hanging scroll executed in ink and color on paper in 1749, the work exemplifies the aesthetic conventions of the period.
The painting, titled Untitled, portrays a woman participating in a game, a composition classified as a genre scene. Its subject, a female figure engaged in leisure activity, reflects the everyday pastimes of 18th‑century Japan. As a hanging scroll executed in ink and color on paper in 1749, the work exemplifies the aesthetic conventions of the period.
The depiction of a woman in such a setting aligns with genre‑scene traditions that document social interactions, suggesting an interest in capturing contemporary recreational life. The piece is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection, further emphasizing its cultural significance.
Technique & Style
The work is executed as a hanging scroll, combining ink and mineral pigments on paper. Its vertical format (77.8 cm high by 26 cm wide) accommodates a single-figure genre scene in which a woman is shown playing a board game.
Brushwork is confident and economical: outlines are rendered in fluid ink strokes, while opaque color blocks, vermilion, malachite green, and pale pink, are applied with minimal modulation. The composition remains planar, eschewing linear perspective in favor of a flattened, decorative arrangement that aligns with mid-Edo-period genre painting conventions.
History & Provenance
Untitled is a 1749 hanging scroll painted in ink and color on paper by an anonymous Japanese artist. The work depicts a game with a woman and belongs to the genre scene category. It was created in Japan and entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains on view.
The museum’s records list the piece’s inception as 1749-01-01, confirming its date and provenance within the institution’s holdings.
The painting is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is located as part of the museum's holdings of paintings.
No specific inventory or accession number is recorded in the available sources, and no exhibition history has been documented for this work.
Context
The painting Untitled, dated 1749, is an anonymous ink and color on paper hanging scroll housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, measuring 77.8 cm by 26 cm and originating from Japan.
Its classification as a genre_scene and depiction of a game with a woman situate it within Edo‑period genre painting, reflecting contemporary interest in quotidian leisure activities.
Scholarship treats the work as an exemplar of anonymous authorship in 18th‑century Japanese art, highlighting the challenges of attributing individual style in that context.
Overview
This hanging scroll, executed in ink and color on paper, portrays a solitary woman in a flowing red robe engaged in a board game. She leans over a low table, her hand poised above black and white stones, while a painted screen behind her depicts a stylized garden of bamboo and drifting clouds.
Artist & collection
