Minneapolis Institute of Art

Swallow on a Lotus [right of a pair of Swallow and Heron]

Kano Tsunenobu

Date

late 17th–early 18th century

Medium

Hanging scroll, left of a pair, ink on silk

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

In this pair of paintings, birds are juxtaposed with plants: a swallow perches on the seedpod of a lotus plant, and a heron stands in water next to reeds. An established genre in China, bird-and-flower painting was introduced to Japan in the 1300s. The pairings carried symbolic meanings (for example, swallow and lotus signals summer; heron with reeds, autumn) and were considered auspicious. Kano Tsunenobu led the Kano painting workshop after the death of his father, Naonobu (whose painting is also on display nearby). Like his father, Tsunenobu worked for the Tokugawa shogunate as the painter-in-service. Asia

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