芦雁図|Reeds and Geese

Art Historical Context

Created during Japan’s turbulent Nanbokuchō period, *Reeds and Geese* reflects the quiet spiritual focus that Zen Buddhism brought to art in the fourteenth century. Painted by the monk-artist Tesshū Tokusai in the eleventh month of 1343, the scroll captures a simple autumn scene of geese among reeds. Such subjects offered viewers a moment of calm amid political unrest, inviting contemplation of nature’s rhythms and the passage of seasons. Executed in ink on silk as one of a pair of hanging scrolls, the work demonstrates the refined monochrome techniques favored by Japanese Zen painters of the...