Cleveland Museum of Art

The Bird's Nest Patriarch

Tawaraya Sōtatsu

Date

early to mid-1600s

Medium

hanging scroll; ink on paper

Culture

Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Tawaraya Sōtatsu’s painting was inspired by a 1602 Chinese book that featured images of legendary Chinese Buddhist experts and Daoist sages. The monk portrayed here is Niaoge, which literally means “Bird’s Nest.” He was a Zen practitioner who favored the isolation of treetops, from which he offered advice to the perplexed. The posture of the single figure suggests a dialogue with someone below. Sōtatsu was a master of the “boneless” ( mokkotsu ), or un-outlined, style of ink painting that relies on layered pools of ink wash for effect. This painting is based on the 1602 illustrated publication Marvelous Traces of Immortals and Buddhas (Chinese: Xianfo qizong ).

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