Artworks

Four Sleepers

Artwork · Mokuan Reien · 14th century · kakemono · Maeda Ikutokukai

Kanzan and Jittoku asleep in a tangle with the monk Bukan and his tiger, by Mokuan Reien, who was ordained in Kamakura, went to China around 1327 and died there about 1345, admired as “a second Mu Qi”. Medium grey lines for the bodies, fine strokes for the faces, dark accents for details, a light wash for the setting — a more sophisticated use of ink than Kaō’s. The colophon by a Chinese monk reads: “Old Fenggan embraces his tiger and sleeps, all huddled together with Shide and Hanshan.” 1 Mason 2005, pp. 222–223, fig. 257. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.