- Museum number
- 1913,0501,0.320
- Description
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Painting, hanging scroll. Two mallard ducks paddling in a flowing stream: one diving amongst water-weeds; maple leaves on water surface. Ink and colour on silk. Signed and sealed. With paulownia storage box.
- Production date
- 1847
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 2.80 centimetres (Jiku)
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Height: 218 centimetres (mount)
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Height: 111 centimetres
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Width: 62.20 centimetres (Mount)
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Width: 40 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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Reproduced and discussed in Timothy Clark, 「葛飾北斎筆 流水に鴨図」『国華』1507 (May 2021), pp. 53-56 (pl. 11).
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Smith 1988
A fine example of Hokusai's evergreen skill in his last years. The signature is 'Eighty-eight year-old Manji'.
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Clark 1992
Two male mallards paddle against the current, one diving to fish amongst the water-weed. Fallen red maple leaves float by on the surface. The unusual optical effects - the modulation of washes across the sweeping bands of the current and the pond weeds painted in different shades of varying intensities depending on their depth from the surface - are evidence of Hokusai's long-standing interest in and experimentation with techniques derived from Western paintings and prints, although these never become obtrusive. Some of the maple leaves are also painted less distinctly to suggest they are sinking into the water. They are deftly drawn with a crispness and variety of tints that provide evidence of authenticity as certain as any signature or seal.
At a recent International Conference on Hokusai's paintings (University of Venice, May 1990) Kobayashi Tadashi proposed the intriguing theory that from about the age of eighty-seven Hokusai was no longer able to sustain the control necessary to paint drawn-out or sweeping lines. When viewed close up, any seemingly long lines on an authentic work of his late period are found to be made up of a series of overlapping shorter strokes - a moving testament to the old man's fierce determination to disguise a shaking hand. In this painting the plumage of the birds (the most detailed part of the painting) are in fact built up with a variety of small strokes, in a manner that would accord with Professor Kobayashi's theory, and coloured in a brilliant palette. Hokusai gives detailed instructions for painting ducks and, indeed, illustrates a very similar bird in his painting manual 'Ehon saishiki tsu' ('On the Use of Colour', 1848, vol. 1, p. 13 verso). The poses of the birds have that characteristic combination of the bizarre and the closely observed that makes all Hokusai's birds and beasts so entertaining.
Literature:
Hillier, Jack, 'Hokusai: Paintings, Drawings and Woodcuts'. London, Phaidon, 1955, no. 82.
Tokyo, Ueno no Mori Bijutsukan, 'Daiei Hakubutsukan shozo ukiyo-e meisaku ten' ('Masterpieces of Ukiyo-e from the British Museum'). Exh. cat., 29 March-12 Apr. 1985, no. 168.
Forrer, Matthi, and Goncourt, Edmond de, 'Hokusai'. New York, Rizzoli, 1988, no. 441.
Clark, Timothy. "Paintings by Hokusai in the British Museum", 'Orientations'. Vol. 21, no. 8 (Aug. 1990), 37-44, fig. 10.
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Asahi 1996
二羽の雄の真鴨が流れに逆らって水遊びをし、その内の一羽は水草に潜って魚を捕ろうとしている。水面には赤い落葉が漂っている。
縞のように打ち寄せる急流を描く筆彩や、水面からの深さに応じて淡くなる水草の様々な形の影による、まれに見る視覚的効果は、西洋の油絵や版画に導かれた技法に対し、北斎が常に興味を抱き続け、試み続けた事の証しであり、しかもこの技法のみが目立つわけでは決してない。数葉の紅葉は淡く彩られ、水没していることを示している。その脆そうな風合いや変化に富んだ色合いが、本作品の筆者が誰かを、いかなる落款や印章よりも確かに物語っている。
北斎の肉筆画に関する近年の国際会議（ヴェニス大学、1990年）で、小林忠は、87歳頃からの北斎はもはや長い線や曲線を引くだけの力がなかったという興味深い見解を示した。北斎晩年の確実な作品を目近に観察すると、一見長く見える線も短い線が重ねられたものとわかる。それはあたかも、震える手を隠そうと決意した老人の、生ける形見のようである。
本作品の最も細かい部分である鴨の羽毛は、小林氏の言のごとく細かい筆の連続によって描かれ、鮮やかに賦彩されている。北斎が描く鳥は細部まで構築的であり、きわめてよく似た鳥が絵手本「絵本彩色通」（嘉永元年•1848刊、第1巻13丁裏）にも見出せる。鳥の姿勢は奇妙ではあるが子細な観察の結果であり、この二者の融合が北斎の描く鳥や獣のすべてに魅力を与えている。
（竹内美砂子（名古屋市博物館））
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Clark 2017
One male mallard looks quizzically out at us; the other dives for pond weed. Ripples eddy towards us, creating complex visual effects – clearly of particular interest to Hokusai – suggesting light and reflection. Fallen maple leaves sink into the water and start to disappear, and the richly coloured weed fades to indistinct silhouettes in the depths. Far beyond mere naturalism, there is an almost symbolic reverence for the moment, a sense of personal identification with the natural world, a mood shared with some other of the final paintings (cat. 00). In Picture Book: Essence of Colouring (cat. 211), published the following year, Hokusai gives instructions on how to paint just such a duck, as well as many other birds, creatures and plants, providing black-and-white illustrations while also giving recipes for preparing the necessary pigments.(Timothy Clark)
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2005, Oct 25 - Dec 4, Tokyo National Museum, Hokusai ten (no. 488)
2014 Oct- 2015 Jan, Reunion des musees nationaux Grand Palais, Hokusai
2017 25 May - 13 Aug, London, BM, G35, Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave
2017 6 Oct - 19 Nov, Osaka, Abeno Harukas Art Museum
2022 16 Apr-12 Jun, Tokyo, Suntory Museum of Art, Hokusai from the British Museum
- Acquisition date
- 1913
- Acquisition notes
- The collection of Japanese and Chinese paintings belonging to Arthur Morrison was purchased by Sir William Gwynne-Evans, who presented it to the British Museum in 1913.
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1913,0501,0.320
- Additional IDs
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Asia painting number: Jap.Ptg.1453 (Japanese Painting Number)
