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Wild Geese in Moonlight

Kakemono, unique work, 193 x 54 cm
Product number: 5106

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 193 cm
  • Width 54 cm
  • Item Type Kakemono
  • Jikusaki Sculpture
  • Material Honshi Paper
  • Period of Creation Shôwa (1926–1989)
  • Technique Hand-Painted
  • Unique Work Yes
Sold

No longer available

Description

In front of a large, softly painted full moon, several wild geese fly across the night sky in staggered formation, their outstretched wings and extended necks captured in different moments of flight. At the lower edge of the image, slender reed stalks sway in the wind, lending the scene additional movement and a quiet, autumnal mood.

Wild geese migrating before the autumn moon are among the most poetic motifs in Japanese painting and traditionally stand for wistfulness, transience, and the beauty of the fleeting moment. The ink painting, rendered in fine shades of gray and brown, reinforces this quiet, melancholic atmosphere and makes the nocturnal firmament seem almost tangible.

The scene was painted by hand on paper in the Shôwa period. The hanging scroll has jikusaki made of plastic and, with its expressive, poetic imagery, is a particularly atmospheric piece for lovers of classical bird depictions.

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?.