Millet and Sparrows

Geiai

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The everyday sight of cavorting sparrows was a favored theme among painters of the Muromachi period. This deftly rendered ink painting captures their lively forms in an abbreviated manner, using so-called boneless brushwork to render their feathers without lines, in varied tones, and exploiting the white ground for their soft underbodies. The meticulous linear definition of the chrysanthemum and millet emphasizes their differing textures and allows a pleasing contrast in brushwork. A number of skilled ink paintings of birds and plants bearing “Geiai” seals survive, including a very similar composition of approximately the same size in the Mary Griggs Burke Collection. At least two versions of the “Geiai” seal are known, and some paintings have an additional seal reading “Tonshu.” Although much of Geiai’s biography remains unclear, it is thought that he worked in the capital of Kyoto, and was commissioned to paint interiors for the grand Zen temple Daitokuji.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art