釧雲泉筆 觀瀑山水図|Viewing a Waterfall
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Image: 50 13/16 × 21 7/8 in. (129.1 × 55.6 cm) Overall with mounting: 77 1/4 × 25 15/16 in. (196.2 × 65.9 cm) Overall with knobs: 77 1/4 × 28 1/8 in. (196.2 × 71.4 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2022
Accession Number
2022.432.18
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
Created in 1793 during Japan’s Edo period, “Viewing a Waterfall” is a hanging scroll by artist Kushiro Unsen. Rendered in ink and color on paper, the work exemplifies the refined landscape tradition favored by scholar-artists of the time. Hanging scrolls like this one were designed to be displayed temporarily in a tokonoma alcove, allowing viewers to appreciate the scene in a contemplative setting before it was rolled and stored. The theme of observing a cascading waterfall carries deep cultural resonance in East Asian art, evoking ideas of nature’s enduring power and the quiet reflection it inspires. Unsen’s choice of medium—delicate washes of ink combined with subtle color—highlights the fluid movement of water and the textured rock faces, inviting viewers to imagine the sound and mist of the falls. Now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Asian Art collection through the generous gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, this scroll offers a window into late-eighteenth-century Japanese aesthetics and the enduring appeal of landscape painting as a source of harmony and inspiration.
About the Artist
Kushiro Unsen 釧雲泉 (Japanese) · 1759 –1811
Japanese, 1759–1811