青木木米筆 山中喫茶図扇面|Preparing Tea by a Mountain Gorge
1825
Medium
Folding fan mounted as a hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Image: 8 1/4 × 19 7/16 in. (21 × 49.4 cm) Overall with mounting: 39 3/8 × 25 1/16 in. (100 × 63.7 cm) Overall with knobs: 39 3/8 × 27 7/16 in. (100 × 69.7 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
Accession Number
2015.300.180
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nestled in a misty mountain gorge, Aoki Moki's *Preparing Tea by a Mountain* (1825) a moment of serene tranquility during Japan's Edo period (16151868). Painted in ink and light color on paper, this intimate landscape originally graced a folding fan, mounted as a hanging scroll common practice that transformed portable, personal artworks into elegant display pieces. At 8¼ × 19⅞ inches, the fan's delicate surface evokes the refined leisure of literati culture. Mokubei (1767–1833), a renowned potter and painter in the Nanga (Southern school) tradition, drew inspiration from Chinese literati painting, blending fluid brushwork with Japanese sensitivity. His scene of tea preparation amid rugged cliffs and cascading streams highlights the Edo-era fascination with nature's harmony and the ritual of chanoyu (tea ceremony), symbols of intellectual escape from urban life. This work, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Mary Griggs Burke Collection, exemplifies how everyday objects like fans became canvases for poetic expression, inviting viewers to pause and savor the quiet beauty of mountainside repose.
About the Artist
Aoki Mokubei · 1767–1833
1767–1833