Reeds and Geese1314–17 · Study 2015.464

Context from the museum

Reeds and geese has been a common pairing in Chinese literary and visual culture for many centuries. This painting presents the contribution of a Japanese amateur painter, almost certainly a Zen Buddhist monk, to Japan’s fledgling efforts to add the theme to its own cultural vocabulary in the early 1300s. As was customary at the time in Japan, the painter did not sign or seal his work; the inscription, a poem added to the painting by the eminent émigré monk Yishan Yining, along with his signature and seal, was of far greater cultural value. Today, the modestly sized painting has tremendous significance as one of the earliest surviving examples of Japanese ink paintings with reeds and geese.

Museum description reproduced from its CC0 open-access record. Read the original catalog entry.

A detail to notice

Tokyo National Museum owns a copy of this painting made by Kano Gyokusen (1796–1864) when he was 14 years old.

Observation supplied by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Read the dimensions before the image

The selected painting measurement for Reeds and Geese is 32.2 cm wide and 80.4 cm high, equivalent to approximately 12.7 × 31.7 inches. Dividing width by height gives a format ratio of 0.40:1. The rectangular bounding area is 0.26 square meters; it describes the measured footprint, not the amount of paint or the monetary value.

On an illustrative 300 cm wall, the recorded width occupies 10.7% of the span before adding a frame. A centered placement leaves approximately 133.9 cm on each side before adding a frame. These are calculations by Physical Art For Crypto using museum measurements. They are not the museum’s display recommendations.

Questions to bring to your own collection

With Reeds and Geese in view, identify one feature you can point to, then distinguish what the museum records from your personal response. Keep its medium, hanging scroll; ink on paper, in your notes when comparing contemporary works.

• Which part of this vertical composition catches your eye first?
• Would a 32.2 cm width still suit the space after allowing for furniture and a frame?
• What surface detail would you need to see in person or in a close photograph?