Window onto Bamboo on a Rainy Day

Window onto Bamboo on a Rainy Day

Gion Nankai

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bamboo was a favored theme of Nanga artists, who were largely based in Kyoto and often had backgrounds in Confucian studies and Chinese literati theory. Nankai was the son of a physician and clan official in Wakayama Prefecture. He studied literature and Confucianism in Edo (present-day Tokyo), but belonged to the first generation of influential Nanga painters. His earliest dated painting (1719) was of bamboo, and he produced a number of studies on the same subject. In this depiction, the artist precisely brushed leaves and jointed stalks in varying tones to evoke a rain-soaked atmosphere and dotted ink on the nearby rock for moss. His handling reflects brushwork in woodcut-illustrated Chinese painting manuals, such as the early eighteenth-century Mustard-Seed Garden Manual, that were newly available to Japanese artists. In the Chinese tradition, the strength and flexibility of bamboo are likened to the spirit of the gentleman-scholar who bends but does not break under adversity.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Window onto Bamboo on a Rainy DayWindow onto Bamboo on a Rainy DayWindow onto Bamboo on a Rainy DayWindow onto Bamboo on a Rainy DayWindow onto Bamboo on a Rainy Day

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.