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Breaking Waves in Moonlight

Kakemono, unique work, with box, 203 x 60 cm
Product number: 5635

Sold – no longer available

This piece was a handmade one-of-a-kind work. It cannot be reordered and will never exist in this form again. The page stays online as part of our archive.

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Details about the sold piece

  • Height 203 cm
  • Width 60 cm
  • Item Type Kakemono
  • Jikusaki Wood
  • Material Honshi Paper
  • Period of Creation Shôwa (1926–1989)
  • Technique Hand-Painted
  • Unique Work Yes
  • Wooden Box Yes
Sold

No longer available

Description

Above the moving waves a pale disk of the moon stands in the night sky – with a few, well-placed brushstrokes this hanging scroll captures that moment in which light and water meet. The spray of the breaking waves is rendered in delicate tones of gray and silver, so that the movement of the sea becomes almost palpable, while the moon hovers above in silent stillness.

The image is painted entirely by hand on paper, a work from the Shôwa period that continues the long Japanese tradition of landscape painting with its interplay of emptiness and suggestion. The Jikusaki at the ends of the roller rods is made of wood and blends unobtrusively into the overall restrained effect of the work.

This hanging scroll is delivered in its own wooden box, which protects it from light and dust and makes its storage as a classic collector's item easier. For lovers of Japanese ink painting and maritime motifs, this hanging scroll, called Breaking Waves in Moonlight, is a quiet yet expressive addition.

Frequently asked

No – as a one-of-a-kind piece it exists in a single example only.
We would be glad to look for one. Get in touch with the details of the object you are looking for and we will see what we can do.
Because the two pieces of information speak about different things: the period designation describes the object – support, colors, condition – while the signature reflects which name appears on the painting. In most cases there is no attempt at deception behind this, but rather Japanese painting training: copying from workshop models was the curriculum for centuries, an utsushi is regarded as a bow to the teacher, workshops signed with the master's name, and artist names were passed down within a school. Such a hanging scroll is therefore not a forgery, but a hand-painted one-of-a-kind that continues the formal language of its school – just not the work of the famous name, and priced accordingly. We explain this in detail in the guide Why does a kakemono often bear the signature of an artist long deceased?.