Snails
Nagasawa Rosetsu (Japanese, 1754–1799)
c. 1788–89
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink, color, and metallic pigments on paper
Dimensions
200.7 × 54 cm · image: 114.3 × 40.6 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1998.5
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
male
About this artwork
In this work, Nagasawa Rosetsu carefully described two snails in a manner known as “earth painting” (doro-e), building up colors mixed with crushed white shells in emulation of the thick brushstrokes of oil paint seen in European painting. A silvery metallic pigment indicates the snails’ trails, glistening along an earthen wall. Notably, one trail has no snail, leaving the viewer to guess why.