Sparrows in a Plum Tree

Sparrows in a Plum Tree

Nagasawa Rosetsu 長澤蘆雪

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A common topic in Japanese bird-and-flower painting, sparrows and blossoming plum branches evoke the beginning of spring, which according to the lunar calendar would begin in early February. Rosetsu fills the composition with a profusion of twigs that abruptly twist and turn. The calculated disorder of the plum branches finds its echo in the numerous sparrows, many of which the artist painted in slight variations of similar poses. Birds or other animals that gaze straight towards the viewer, almost as if they wanted to enter into direct communication with the human observer (such as the pair of sparrows on the lowermost branch), are a visual strategy that Rosetsu employed in many of his paintings, for instance in the diptych of hanging scrolls of cranes, also in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2011.572.2a, b). The inclusion of a rose bush strikes one as unusual, as this flower is not a subject matter commonly found in early modern Japanese painting.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.