梅雀図|Sparrows in a Plum Tree
second half of the 1790s
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions
Image: 44 1/2 x 15 11/16 in. (113 x 39.8 cm) Overall with mounting: 82 5/16 x 37 1/16 in. (209 x 94.1 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, 2015
Accession Number
2015.500.9.54
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nagasawa Rosetsu’s *Sparrows in a Plum Tree* captures a quiet moment of nature in the second half of the 1790s, during Japan’s Edo period. A master of lively animal and bird studies, Rosetsu worked in the Maruyama-Shijō tradition, favoring direct observation of the natural world over purely decorative conventions. Here, small sparrows perch among delicate plum branches, their animated poses contrasting with the tree’s graceful lines. Painted in ink and subtle color on silk, the hanging scroll format was designed for seasonal display in a Japanese home’s tokonoma alcove. The narrow vertical co...