Sparrow on Plum Branch (Ume ni Suzume)
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions
10 1/4 x 23 1/8 in. (26 x 58.7 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Howard Mansfield Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936
Accession Number
36.100.67
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the serene world of Edo-period Japan (1615–1868), Shōkadō Shōjō's *Sparrow on Plum Branch (me ni Suzume)* the quiet poetry of nature through a delicate hanging scroll in ink on paper. Measuring just 10¼ x 23⅛ inches, this intimate work invites close contemplation, evoking the literati painting style (nanga) that Shōkadō, a monk, poet, and calligrapher, mastered Active in early 17th-century Kyoto, he was celebrated as one of the "Three Brushes" for his elegant fusion of calligraphy-like brushstrokes and Zen-inspired minimalism. The composition centers a lone sparrow perched on a twisting pl...
About the Artist
Shōkadō Shōjō · 1584–1639
Japanese, 1584?–1639