Fireflies Among Reeds
(Japan and Korea )
Fireflies illuminate the surrounding reeds and flowing stream below. Bunrin's rendering of a humid atmosphere captures the serenity of a summer evening.
Bunrin traced his artistic ancestry back to Maruyama Okyo (1733-95), famous for his efforts to create a Japanese counterpart to European realism. Bunrin also worked in the manner of Chinese literati painters. In this hanging scroll (and in "Bowl with Sparklers" [35.79]), painted toward the end of his life, there is a delight in atmospheric qualities, perhaps stimulated by recent exposure to the contrasting lights and darks of European paintings and prints.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
William T. / Henry Walters Collection, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Exhibitions
2014 | Designed for Flowers: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
Conservation
Date | Description | Narrative |
---|---|---|
8/4/1991 | Treatment | mounted |
3/1/1998 | Examination | examined for condition |
6/27/2001 | Examination | examined for exhibition |
Geographies
Japan (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H of image: 45 3/16 × W: 15 5/16 in. (114.78 × 38.89 cm); H with border: 52 1/2 × 19 13/16 in. (133.35 × 50.32 cm); H with support: 76 1/4 × W: 19 13/16 in. (193.68 × 50.32 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by William T. or Henry Walters
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
35.77