Landscape: Lake Biwa

18th century

Current Collection

Washington, D.C., United States

Medium: Ink on paper
Dimensions: 28.3 × 74.7 cm
Status: In Museum Collection
Collect24 Art ID: C24-124419

Okyo’s simplified view of Lake Biwa--the shoreline, a few hills, and small islands--is rendered in an imaginative, playful style of brushwork. This image presents a visual play on the name biwa, an ancient Chinese musical instrument that was adopted in Japan. The sketch exaggerates the lute-like shape of the lake, which spreads from a narrow “neck” at its southern end near Kyoto to a wide oval “b…

Provenance

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Registry history

18th century — Recorded in the collection of National Museum of Asian Art

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Auction history

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