The Fragrance of the Plum Flowers Strikes the Nose (Baika Ko Boku Bi)
Artist
Mokuan, Shōtō
(Chinese, 1611–1684)
Date17th century
Mediumink on paper
Dimensions134.6 x 33.5 cm (53 x 13 3/16 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineStoddard Acquisition Fund
Object number1999.37
DescriptionCalligraphic hanging scroll in large bold semicursive characters (gyosho)Label TextMokuan Shoto was born in the port city of Quanzhou in Fujian Province, China. He followed his teacher Ingen Ryuki to Japan and, supported by the Shogunate and the imperial court, the two monks supervised the construction of the Obaku sect headquarters Mampuku-ji outside Kyoto at Uji. Mokuan succeeded his teacher as the second abbot of the Japanese branch of the sect in 1664. In 1680 he retired and moved to a sub-temple within the grounds of the monastery, devoting himself entirely to calligraphy and poetry. Mokuan studied the traditional; and individualistic writing forms of famous Chinese calligraphers and also developed his own unconventional, vigorous style of calligraphy. The calligraphy refers to a poem by the Chinese monk Huang Po (d. 850), a Chinese monk who is regarded as the intellectual founder of the Japanese Rinzai Zen sect: "If not for the coldness that chills the bone how could the plum flowers emit the fragrance that strikes then nose?"ProvenanceFrederick Baekeland (Toyobi), N.Y.
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