Kikugawa Eizan
Japan 1787–1867
(Beauty on parade) c.1810
Colour woodblock print on paper
35.5 x 23.5cm
Purchased 1992. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation
Collection: Queensland Art Gallery

Bizen Kilns
Japan
Narrow necked jar with lugs (tsubo) c.1574–1602 (Azuchi–Momoyama period)
Stoneware, coil built with natural ash glaze
30.9 x 35cm (diam.)
Purchased 1994 with funds from Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation
Collection: Queensland Art Gallery

Banner image:
Unkoku Tōeki  Japan 1591–1644 | Pair of six-panel screens (Landscapes with Li Bai and Lin Bu) (detail) c.1610–44 (early Edo period) | Ink, colours and gold wash on paper on six-panel wooden framed screens (byōbu), edged with woven silk and covered verso in paper relief printed in black | Four centre panels: 169 x 62.3cm (each screen); two outer panels: 169 x 64cm (each screen); 169 x 377.2cm (overall) | Gift of James Fairfax, AO, through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 1992 | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery

Asian Art

To complement the development of the contemporary Asian art collection, the Gallery has recently turned its attention to the acquisition of historical Asian art. This new direction provides opportunities to explore key media, techniques and philosophies in the arts of the Asian region. It also draws attention to the importance of cultural exchange in the continuing development of Asia’s aesthetic traditions.

Asia’s ceramic traditions are among the world’s earliest and most influential. Forming an introduction to these is a group of recently acquired Neolithic jars from Japan’s Jōmon (3000–2000BCE) and Yayoi (400–300BCE) cultures. While produced as functional vessels for cooking and food storage, the decorative embellishments on these ceramics are some of the earliest examples of the development of abstracted design. Created over distinctive sculptural forms, this decoration is a testament to the inventiveness of the potters in moving beyond function to create objects of significant beauty. A group of two kuan (storage jars) and one amphora from China’s Neolithic Yangshao culture (3500–3000BCE) complement this collection, allowing for dialogue regarding the development of ceramics in Asia.

Japanese ceramics are one of the Collection’s strengths. A group of tsubo (lidless jars) from Japan’s Six Old Kilns (the Tokoname, Seto, Shigaraki, Tamba, Bizen and Echizen kilns), dating from the Muromachi (1333–1573) and Azuchi–Momoyama (1573–1603) periods form a small but significant focus. One of the highlights is the distinctive gomayu (sesame-glazed) Narrow-necked jar with lugs (tsubo) from the Bizen kilns, which engages with the Japanese tea ceremony. During the Muromachi period, the weathered, fire-scorched markings of the Bizen wares were greatly admired by a small coterie of highly cultivated and powerful men, influenced by Zen ideals including the aesthetic of rustic simplicity found in its tea ceremony. As such, by the mid sixteenth century these ceramics were specifically created in Bizen for use in this meditative Zen ritual. Other tsubo in collection demonstrate the influence of the patronage of Zen aesthetes in their exploration of accidental and uncontrollable decorative markings and colourings.

The confluence of philosophy with art as well as poetry has played a decisive role in the development of many Asian aesthetic traditions, and in particular, those of Chinese and Japanese painting. A superb pair of Japanese screens attributed to the Hasegawa School, active in the Edo period (1600–1868), exhibit the significance of philosophical and poetic ideals. Depicting scenes from the influential literary text Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji), these six-fold screens engage with nature’s transitory beauty as expressed in the change of seasons. Originally derived from indigenous Shintō myths, the poetic rendering of passing seasons is conventional subject matter in Japanese art, demonstrating the interconnectedness of human life and nature. The skilful combination of line and brush work, enhanced by colour, delineates these changes within a single landscape. In Chinese painting and calligraphy, control of line and the brushstroke is indicative of the soul, and the importance of line within these screens is a testament to the continued influence of Chinese aesthetic philosophies on Japanese painting.

Another acquisition focus for Japanese art is the popular form known as Ukiyo-e, or ‘pictures of the floating world’, which developed during the late seventeenth-century Edo period. The Gallery holds iconic works by leading exponents of this form, such as Ichiryusai Hiroshige, which demonstrate the skilful layering of introduced Western methods of realistic representation — such as perspective — with traditional forms of visual language including the expressive use of line. Other works feature the popular themes of beautiful women (Bijinga) and the theatre. Utamaro was considered a master of Bijinga, and the Gallery’s print of Shaving the neck (from ‘Furyu goyo no matus’ (‘Elegant five-needled pine’) series) emphasises and romanticises those attributes, both physical and behavioral, which were considered the hallmark of Japanese feminine beauty. 
 
Such works help further the Gallery’s commitment to developing a small and carefully directed collection of historical Asian art that provides audiences with an insight to the richness, diversity and sophistication of the cultural traditions of Asia. Further, they contribute significantly to the interpretation and appreciation of the Gallery’s landmark contemporary Asian collection, a consideration that has been an underlying principle in shaping the future direction of the Gallery’s historical Asian holdings.

The images on this web page are indicative of works that are part of the Collection. Visitors are advised to contact the Gallery in advance of a visit to find out if a particular work is on display. For exhibition information on Collection works on display, please visit Current Collection Displays