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Fine Arts


Painting, Watercolour, Plastic Arts, Woodcuts, Etching, Drawing.



22 subcategories
Altars

ALTARS

Armours

ARMOURS

Book Illumination

BOOK ILLUMINATION

Carvings

CARVINGS

Ceramic

CERAMIC

Drawing

DRAWING

Enamel

ENAMEL

Engravings

ENGRAVINGS

Fresco and Wallpainting

FRESCO AND WALLPAINTING

Goldsmith Works

GOLDSMITH WORKS

Handicraft

HANDICRAFT

Jewelry

JEWELRY

Mosaics

MOSAICS

Painting

PAINTING

Plastic Arts

PLASTIC ARTS

Posters

POSTERS

Prints

PRINTS

Relief

RELIEF

Sculpture

SCULPTURE

Silverwork

SILVERWORK

Textile Works

TEXTILE WORKS

Watercolour

WATERCOLOUR

14,174 photos
Sugawara no Michizane in Chinese dress, Muromachi period, Japan, late 15th century. Holding a small branch of plum blossom, the badge of a Chinese scholar-gentleman. His Chinese appearance may be a reference to the legend that he studied Zen in China after his death. One of his poems is inscribed at the top of the painting. A cultural figure of the Heian period (794 -1185), he is still widely regarded in Japan as the patron of scholarship. He was a scholar of Chinese and also a politician who rose to be Minister of the Right, one of the highest ranks in the government of the time. After his death in exile there were several disasters in the capital of Kyoto which people believed were caused by his angry spirit. He was therefore raised to the rank of a Shintô deity (renamed Karai Tenjin). In the Muromachi period (1333-1568) there was a revival of interest in kambun (Chinese-style writing) and Michizane's reputation was re-established as the greatest Japanese poet who had written in the Chinese language.Creator: Kitagawa Utamaro JA, JP 1 (1913.5-1.038)
#33011030

Sugawara no Michizane in Chinese dress, Muromachi period, Japan, late 15th centu...

Landscape with mountains, Japan, Muromachi period, 16th century. Set in a mountainous landscape is a building in the Chinese style rising above three other roofs. Two tall pine trees dominate the foreground. The square seal, reading 'Kantei', has been found on a dozen or so paintings, all exhibiting sharp brushwork and economical composition, as seen in the present works. The mountains, cliffs, buildings, and trees here are done using long, thick, 'axe-cut' strokes, with washes fading away to suggest the mist at the base of distant mountains. The records of a temple in Nara mention an order for folding screens from 'Kantei' in the sixth month of 1543, and there is a strong possibility these two works were also originally mounted on screens. One of a pair of hanging scroll paintings. JA, JP 358-9 (1881.12-10.01135-6)
#33011031

Landscape with mountains, Japan, Muromachi period, 16th century. Set in a mounta...

Bodhidharma (Daruma), Momoyama period, Japan, late 16th century. Portraits of Daruma traditionally emphasised his 'Indian' appearance with bushy beard and eyebrows, compelling eyes, large nose and long ears (a symbol of Buddhist sanctity). He wears a large earring. The painting is powerfully executed in a variety of fine lines for the face, hair and beard and dashing black brushstrokes for the robes. Bodhidharma, known as Daruma in Japanese, was the Indian founder of Zen Buddhism which he brought to China. He is said to have spent nine years seated in meditation in a cave, losing the use of his arms and legs. Zen became influential in Japan in the thirteenth century. From this period onward Japanese Zen monks began painting portraits of Daruma in brush and ink as an aid to reaching enlightenment (satori). 765 mm x 390 mm JA, JP 362 (1913.5-1.0101)
#33011032

Bodhidharma (Daruma), Momoyama period, Japan, late 16th century. Portraits of Da...

A paper making workshop, Genroku-period, Japan, c1688-c1704. To the right are the boards used for drying the paper and three people involved in this process. Inside the workshop a man leans over a vat to stretch a sheet and to his right the owner breaks off momentarily from his task of cutting to quench his thirst. Finally, a young girl stands packing the finished product. This scene is taken from the second of two scrolls illustrating artisans of various trades. The scrolls depict over fifty two trades in all, including brush-makers, dyers, street entertainers, sword polishers, saké makers, and florists. Most of the scenes are set in workshops with their front wall or screens removed, so that those inside can be seen at work. JA, JP ADD25 (1923.11-14.02.1);JA, JP ADD26 (1923.
#33011034

A paper making workshop, Genroku-period, Japan, c1688-c1704. To the right are th...

A hanging scroll painting of monkeys, Edo period, Japan, c1795-c1801. A mother monkey and her baby sit together on a rock beside a blueberry bush. The mother is examining a single fruit that she has just picked, while the young one looks on. The painting shows clearly the artist's mastery of the depiction of animals; the soft texture of the animals' coats achieved by meticulously brushing in each individual hair over a background wash. Mori Sosen is most famous for his paintings of monkeys. In about 1808 he even changed the first character of his name to one meaning 'monkey'. He also founded a school of animal painting with his brother Shûhô, in Osaka. JA, JP 2500 (1913.5-1.0531)
#33011041

A hanging scroll painting of monkeys, Edo period, Japan, c1795-c1801. A mother m...

Birds and flowers, Edo period, Japan, 1791. A white parrot perched on a blossoming branch. The parrot is not native to Japan, but it was imported from as early as the ninth century, when the birds were presented to the imperial court. Parrots remained rare even during the Edo period (1600-1868), but featured at entertainment stalls in several cities. The white parrot was already a popular theme for paintings, but the artist Sessai may well have observed one in real life at one of these stalls. Although Sessai has here followed the thematic tradition of kachôga (bird-and-flower painting), and used conventional monochrome brushwork on the tree, he has adopted a sharply empirical style for the parrot. JA, JP ADD607 (1979.11-12.01)
#33011042

Birds and flowers, Edo period, Japan, 1791. A white parrot perched on a blossomi...

Portrait of two young women, Edo period, Japan, late 18th century. A young woman is wearing a bright blue kimono with a landscape design around the base, and a sumptuous obi (sash) interwoven with gold thread. Her attendant wears an uwagi (jacket) trimmed at the collar in black, over a blue stencil patterned gown, with a green striped obi and a reddish-brown apron tied in a bow at the front. She holds a porcelain hi-ire (portable brazier, part of a smoking set) of Mikawachi ware, on which is a design in underglaze blue of the moon over a lake and pavilion, with a poem above. The black pigment visible between the woman's lips suggests she has blackened teeth, indicating her married status. The women's hair is dressed in the Shimada style with tôrôbin (lantern locks). JA, JP ADD720 (1982.10-4.01)
#33011043

Portrait of two young women, Edo period, Japan, late 18th century. A young woman...

'Woman at her morning toilette', Japan, Edo period, c1800. Hanging scroll painting of a married woman engaged in her morning toilette. Her gaze is caught by the beauty of a potted morning glory. Her straight back topped by the rounded marumage hairdo forms a strong triangular composition with the plant, the copper water bowl and porcelain dish with toothbrush and mouthwash to the right. Utamaro was particularly skilled at using the patterns of textiles to indicate the shapes of bodies beneath; the lines of the checked blue outer-kimono suggest convincingly the woman's bended knee. The rougher blue and white checks of the under-kimono and towel give variety to the range of textures. The touches of red, especially around the naked knee, give a sensuality that is rarely missing from the works of Utamaro, a master at catching the moods of his female subjects, often in the more private moments of their lives. JA, JP ADD380 (1965.7-24.04)
#33011044

'Woman at her morning toilette', Japan, Edo period, c1800. Hanging scroll painti...

Ainu men seal catching, from 'Scenes of Daily Life of the Ezo', early Meiji era, Japan, c1870. Two men row the boat while a third aims a harpoon at the seal. Ezo was the pre-modern Japanese name for what is now called Hokkaidô, the northernmost of the four main islands that now make up the Japanese archipelago. The indigenous race, the Ainu, differ in physiognomy, language and culture from the mainland Japanese people, who fully explored and colonized the island in the late nineteenth century. Paintings by Japanese artists depicting the Ainu first appeared in the later eighteenth century. The artist Hirasawa Byôzan lived for periods among the Ainu and painted many works depicting their lives and customs. JA, JP ADD275 (1948.7-10.08.1)
#33011047

Ainu men seal catching, from 'Scenes of Daily Life of the Ezo', early Meiji era,...

Interior of an Ainu hut, from 'Scenes of Daily Life of the Ezo', early Meiji era, Japan, c1870. Depicting cooking utensils on the matted floor, and sacks hanging from the ceiling. Ezo was the pre-modern Japanese name for what is now called Hokkaidô, the northernmost of the four main islands that now make up the Japanese archipelago. The indigenous race, the Ainu, differ in physiognomy, language and culture from the mainland Japanese people, who fully explored and colonized the island in the late nineteenth century. Paintings by Japanese artists depicting the Ainu first appeared in the later eighteenth century. The artist Hirasawa Byôzan lived for periods among the Ainu and painted many works depicting their lives and customs. JA, JP ADD275 (1948.7-10.08.1)
#33011048

Interior of an Ainu hut, from 'Scenes of Daily Life of the Ezo', early Meiji era...

An Ainu family, from 'Scenes of Daily Life of the Ezo', early Meiji era, Japan, c1870. An Ainu family outside their hut. Ezo was the pre-modern Japanese name for what is now called Hokkaidô, the northernmost of the four main islands that now make up the Japanese archipelago. The indigenous race, the Ainu, differ in physiognomy, language and culture from the mainland Japanese people, who fully explored and colonized the island in the late nineteenth century. Paintings by Japanese artists depicting the Ainu first appeared in the later eighteenth century. The artist Hirasawa Byôzan lived for periods among the Ainu and painted many works depicting their lives and customs. Traditional Ainu beliefs meant that they never sculpted or painted human images, so scrolls like this by Japanese artists provide us with an invaluable record of a way of life that has now all but disappeared. JA, JP ADD275 (1948.7-10.08.1)
#33011049

An Ainu family, from 'Scenes of Daily Life of the Ezo', early Meiji era, Japan,...

A female ghost, Meiji era, Japan, c1871-c1889. She shrieks in triumph as she bears off the severed head. Cutting off a defeated enemy's head was the ultimate sign of victory in battle, but here, she even has blood dripping from her gaping fangs, suggesting she has actually bitten off this head. The ghost glides upwards on wisps of cloud in her shroud-like gown, tearing at her hair and glaring from her green, gold-hooded eyes. This painting demonstrates the artist's fascination with the macabre and the supernatural. This tendency was to a large degree shared by the nineteenth-century Japanese public. Many Kabuki plays of the time were peopled with restless spirits of the dead and live ghost story-telling was particularly popular at the height of summer when a cooling shiver down the spine would have been most welcome. JA, JP ADD1096 (1996.10-10.01)
#33011050

A female ghost, Meiji era, Japan, c1871-c1889. She shrieks in triumph as she bea...