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An eagle on a snow-laden blossoming plum tree
1568-1615
- Medium
- Ink and gold on paper
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- H x W: 149.2 x 342.4 cm (58 3/4 x 134 13/16 in)
- Culture
- Japanese
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Asian Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Smithsonian Institution
About this work
An eagle perches on a gnarled branch, with the shape made by its curled claw echoing that of the setting sun hanging in the hazy, ink-streaked atmosphere. As there are no white predatory bird species native to Japan, the artist likely based this composition on a model from China. He has applied darker ink to the claws, beak, and eyes, as if the essence of the raptor’s instincts is distilled into these razor-sharp surfaces.
