New Year's Sun, 1800 (ink & colour on silk)

One of the great eccentric painters of the Edo period, Jakuchū managed the family grocery until he was 40, passed the business to his younger brother, and devoted himself to painting. He developed a unique style of powerful brushwork, fantastic forms, and sharp, colorful detailing drawn from his study of the Kanō school and Chinese painting. The pine and the sun are auspicious motifs in this painting, making it suitable for display on New Year’s Day. According to the inscription, Jakuchū created it in his final year of life, when he was 85 by the East Asian system of counting.