Bird on Tree (Haha-chō)
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions
Image: 40 1/2 × 12 1/16 in. (102.9 × 30.6 cm) Overall with mounting: 71 1/8 × 16 7/16 in. (180.7 × 41.7 cm) Overall with knobs: 71 1/8 × 18 1/16 in. (180.7 × 45.9 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture & Period
Japan · Muromachi period (1392–1573)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Howard Mansfield Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936
Accession Number
36.100.65
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Bird on Tree (H-chō)** Artist: Shūkō ( Muromachi period) *Hanging scroll; ink on paper, Muromachi period (139–1573), Japan* Nestled within the elegant tradition of Japanese ink painting, *Bird on Tree (Haha-chō)* by Shūkō captures the essence of nature through minimalist brushwork. Created during the Muromachi period—a golden age of Zen-influenced art under the Ashikaga shogunate—this hanging scroll exemplifies *suiboku-ga* (ink monochrome painting). The medium of ink on paper allowed artists like Shūkō to evoke vast emotional depth with sparse, fluid strokes, prioritizing suggestion ...