Chinese Recluse Lin Bu Greeting a Crane,

early 17th century

In the sixteenth century, Kano school painting masters created a distinctive style that synthesized Japanese and Chinese pictorial elements and themes. The subject of this painting is the early eleventh-century recluse poet Lin Pu (Lin Heqing). Living in the southern Chinese city of Hangzhou, near scenic West Lake, he was held in high esteem by the imperial court for his virtue and skill at poetry. Lin was well known for his poems on plum blossoms and became synonymous with the flower, and with the qualities of perseverance and purity that it represents. He is commonly painted accompanied by an attendant, a crane, and his beloved plum. This screen is the result of a Japanese artist painting a Chinese theme in a Chinese ink painting style—but presenting an entirely Japanese aesthetic through the use of a lush gold background.