Kakemono Lotus

With just a few broad ink strokes applied wet-on-wet, this hanging scroll renders the characteristic shape of a lotus leaf and its seed pod on paper – a technique that demands the highest mastery of the brush, since every stroke must be placed correctly and allows for almost no corrections. Between light and dark tones of ink, a leaf of great spatial depth thus emerges.

In Japanese as well as Buddhist pictorial language, the lotus is regarded as a symbol of purity, as it rises untouched from murky water and yet blooms flawlessly. Fine, almost sketch-like stalks and reed grasses play around the composition, lending it a palpable lightness and movement despite the reduction to a few forms, which brings the vast empty pictorial space to life.

The hanging scroll dates from the Meiji period, is executed on paper, and is fitted with a wooden jikusaki. At the lower edge of the image are the artist's signature and red seal. A restrained, meditative work of classical ink painting, well suited to a quiet, contemplative living or work space, where it lends a Far Eastern accent.