Lotus
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 200 cm
- Width 50 cm
- Item Type Kakemono
- Jikusaki Wood
- Material Honshi Paper
- Period of Creation Meiji (1868–1912)
- Technique Hand-Painted
- Unique Work Yes
No longer available
Description
With just a few broad ink strokes applied wet-on-wet, this hanging scroll renders the characteristic shape of a lotus leaf and its seed pod on paper – a technique that demands the highest mastery of the brush, since every stroke must be placed correctly and allows for almost no corrections. Between light and dark tones of ink, a leaf of great spatial depth thus emerges.
In Japanese as well as Buddhist pictorial language, the lotus is regarded as a symbol of purity, as it rises untouched from murky water and yet blooms flawlessly. Fine, almost sketch-like stalks and reed grasses play around the composition, lending it a palpable lightness and movement despite the reduction to a few forms, which brings the vast empty pictorial space to life.
The hanging scroll dates from the Meiji period, is executed on paper, and is fitted with a wooden jikusaki. At the lower edge of the image are the artist's signature and red seal. A restrained, meditative work of classical ink painting, well suited to a quiet, contemplative living or work space, where it lends a Far Eastern accent.
