Shūgetsu Tōkan, attributed
(1427-1510 circa)

Landscape

Vertical hanging scroll painted in ink on silk, 26 x 26,5 cm

Signed on the lower right corner 秋月筆 (Shūgetsu hitsu, “The brush of Shūgetsu”) with two seals; silk frame; ancient wood box with inscriptions.

Provenance: Italian private colection.

A pupil of Sesshū, Shūgetsu Tōkan (秋月 等 観) took Buddhist vows in 1462, later working for the Shimazu family in Satsuma province, where his monastery, the Fukushō-ji, was located. The style of his painting closely resembles Chinese prototypes of the late Song era, much admired at the time he was active. In this painting, he used the haboku technique, which consists in the drafting of large ink spots without outlines to form the elements of the landscape with an almost expressionistic overall effect. One of his haboku paintings, on paper, is in the Cleveland Museum of Art (Art of Japan. Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland 2005, p. 65).