Rock and Waves

Rock and Waves by Maruyama Ōkyo 円山応挙

Medium

Two-panel folding screen; ink and color on paper

Dimensions

Image: 22 in. × 53 3/8 in. (55.9 × 135.6 cm) Overall: 29 1/4 in. × 74 in. (74.3 × 188 cm)

Classification

Paintings

Culture & Period

Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)

Department

Asian Art

Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Credit

Seymour Fund, 1957

Accession Number

57.156.1

Tags

Waves

Art Historical Context

Maruyama Ōkyo's *Rock and Waves* (1773) is a captivating two-panel folding screen, rendered in ink and color on paper, measuring nearly six feet across. This intimate yet dynamic work captures the raw power of nature—a rugged rock formation battered by surging waves—evoking the timeless drama of Japan's coastal landscapes. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Art collection, it exemplifies Edo-period (1615–1868) painting, a time of peace and prosperity when screens like this adorned elite homes and tea houses as portable art. Ōkyo, a pioneering artist who founded the Maruyama-Shijō scho...

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