Returning Homemid-1500s · Study 2015.513

Context from the museum

This painting bears a seal reading Shōkei. The style of the seal resembles that used by Kenkō Shōkei (active about 1470–after 1523), a monk and painter at the Zen temple Kenchōji in Kamakura who studied in Kyoto for three years with Geiami (1431–1485?), painter to the shogun as well as curator of the shogun’s collection of art. However, the seal was carved to look like Shōkei’s and added to the painting at a later date by someone who thought the unsigned landscape was similar to his work. The painting has compositional and some stylistic similarities to images by other Kanto-based artists like Maejima Sōyū (active mid-1500s), who trained with Kano school artists. Specifically, the pines clinging to the massive boulder in front of a pavilion with mountains receding into atmospheric space—in a composition weighted in a single corner of the painting—is a Kanto-inflected derivation of the painting of the Zen monk-painter Tenshō Shūbun (active about 1414), whose work was a major inspiration for Kano school painters.

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

Read the dimensions before the image

The selected painting measurement for Returning Home is 41.9 cm wide and 57.9 cm high, equivalent to approximately 16.5 × 22.8 inches. Dividing width by height gives a format ratio of 0.72:1. The rectangular bounding area is 0.24 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 14.0% of the span before adding a frame. A centered placement leaves approximately 129.1 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 Returning Home 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 and color on paper, in your notes when comparing contemporary works.

• Which part of this vertical composition catches your eye first?
• Would a 41.9 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?