Kakemono Lone Deer in Moonlight

A jagged rock rises from dense fog, and atop its peak stands a single deer, raising its head into the stillness of the sky. The restrained palette of muted grays and blues, together with the softly blurred contours, creates an almost floating, meditative atmosphere.

At the foot of the rock, a few reed stalks and a pale moon suggest the nighttime hour – a motif that has long stood for solitude and quiet longing in Japanese painting. The hanging scroll bears the signature and seal of Tanaka Totsugen, one of the central figures of the Yamato-e revival in Kyoto during the late Edo period.

Totsugen studied under Tosa Mitsusada and devoted his work to a return to the classical court painting of earlier centuries, which lends his works a special art-historical standing to this day. Painted on silk and mounted within a border of brown brocade with a delicate blossom pattern, the painting is accompanied by an inscribed wooden box. The reduced composition and the fine painterly execution make this hand-painted unique work a quiet, poetic eye-catcher for collectors of Japanese art.