This painting depicting a herdboy escorting an ox down a hillside path originally may have been one of ten hanging scrolls illustrating the Ten Verses on Oxherding, a Zen parable composed in eleventh-century China that became popular in Japan. If so, it likely represents the fifth verse, “Herding the Ox,” in which the herdboy has located his runaway ox and sets off on his way home. Another possibility is that it was inspired by a more secular Chinese painting of an ox and herdboy in which the image was meant to evoke the cyclical rhythms of the seasons.
Although the biography of the painter Sekkyakushi remains unclear, he is believed to have been one among several followers of the early Zen monk-artist Kichizan Minchō (1352–1431), active in the painting atelier of Tōfukuji, a large Zen monastery in Kyoto.
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赤脚子筆 牧牛図
Title:Oxherding
Artist:Sekkyakushi (Japanese, active first half of the 15th century)
Period:Muromachi period (1392–1573)
Date:first half of the 15th century
Culture:Japan
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:Image: 21 1/16 × 11 9/16 in. (53.5 × 29.4 cm) Overall with mounting: 54 3/4 × 15 5/8 in. (139 × 39.7 cm) Overall with knobs: 54 3/4 × 17 5/8 in. (139 × 44.7 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
Object Number:2015.300.47
On a grassy slope a tousled herdsman tends a large ox. The principal subject of the painting, the gentle beast, impressive in its mighty bulk, is described with infinite care. Broad strokes define the contours of the body, and long hairline strokes delineate the patches of furry softness. Light and dark ink are contrasted to create a sense of volume and to accentuate individual features.
It has been suggested that the Burke scroll was originally part of a set of ten that illustrated the Ten Ox-Herding Songs (cat. no. 42), most likely the fifth episode, "Herding the Ox."[1] A painting in the Kumita collection in Tokyo, which may be part of the same set, depicts a herdsman grappling with a recalcitrant ox,[2] a struggle that recalls the fourth parable of the series. In contrast, the calm that pervades the Burke painting is the essence of the fifth parable. While the Kumita work is slightly smaller than the Burke painting, it is believed to have been trimmed in recent remountings. Harder to explain are certain stylistic distinctions and the fact that they have different seals.[3]
Very little is known about the painter Sekkyakushi, whose seal is imprinted on the Burke piece, except that he was active in the first half of the fifteenth century. A painting by Sekkyakushi in the Musée Guimet, Paris, that shows Monju Bosatsu (the bodhisattva of wisdom) dressed in a robe of braided grass has a dated inscription of 1418.[4] Like many ink painters of the early Muromachi period, this artist remains an obscure figure because his career was overshadowed by the great fame of his contemporary Kichizan Minchō (1352–1431). "Sekkyakushi" was at one time thought to be another name for the monk-painter Reisai (cat. no. 54), who is himself often confused with Minchō . The distinct stylistic similarities between the work of these three artists suggests a possible master-pupil relationship. Indeed, a painting of White-Robed Kannon by Sekkyakushi in Rokuonji, Kyoto, is closely modeled after a work by Minchō in Tōfukuji in the same city.[5] Another interesting link between the three artists is that the names they chose for their seals commonly refer to the theme of feet or sandals. One of Minchō 's seals includes the characters for "torn sandals"; the first two characters in Reisai's seal refer to legs; and the name Sekkyakushi means "the barefoot one."
The stylistic similarities in their work also seem to reflect a common background. If Sekkyakushi was in fact a pupil of Minchō, he must have been drawn into the orbit of the monks at Tōfukuji, where Minchō lived and worked. In contrast to their more progressive, avant-garde contemporaries—Shubun, for example, or Bonpō—the Tōfukuji painters followed the tradition of Buddhist figure painting. No flower or bird paintings by these artists are known. Viewed in this context, it is unlikely that the Burke scroll was intended purely for aesthetic appreciation. Indeed, everything we know of Sekkyakushi points to its representing one of the Ox-Herding Songs.
[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]
[1] Nakamura Tanio 1970, p. 99; and Tanaka Ichimatsu and Yonezawa Yoshiho 1970, p. 172. [2] Ibid. [3] Tanaka Ichimatsu and Yonezawa Yoshiho 1970, p. 98. [4] Shimada Shūjiro 1969, vol. I, p. 105 [5] Shimada Shūjiro and lriya Yoshitaka 1987, no. 11.
Marking: Seal: Sekkyakushi
Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Zen Painting and Calligraphy," November 5, 1970–December 20, 1970.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," November 7, 1975–January 4, 1976.
Princeton University Art Museum. "Japanese Ink Paintings from American Collections," April 25, 1976–June 13, 1976.
Seattle Art Museum. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," March 10–May 1, 1977.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," June 1–July 17, 1977.
Tokyo National Museum. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," May 21, 1985–June 30, 1985.
Nagoya City Art Museum. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," August 17, 1985–September 23, 1985.
Atami. MOA Museum of Art. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," September 29, 1985–October 27, 1985.
Hamamatsu City Museum of Art. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," November 12, 1985–December 1, 1985.
New York. Asia Society. "Art of Japan: Selections from the Burke Collection, pts. I and II," October 2, 1986–February 22, 1987.
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. "Die Kunst des Alten Japan: Meisterwerke aus der Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," September 16, 1990–November 18, 1990.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Japanese Art from The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 30–June 25, 2000.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Post-renovation opening exhibition: Japanese galleries," April 11, 2006–January 17, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Celebrating the Arts of Japan: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," October 20, 2015–May 14, 2017.
Murase, Miyeko, Il Kim, Shi-yee Liu, Gratia Williams Nakahashi, Stephanie Wada, Soyoung Lee, and David Sensabaugh. Art Through a Lifetime: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection. Vol. 1, Japanese Paintings, Printed Works, Calligraphy. [New York]: Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, [2013], p. 78, cat. no. 99.
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