Water Landscape

中林竹渓筆 山水図
In this horizontal format, unusual for a hanging scroll, a landscape unfolds around a wide, slow-flowing river. Beginning at the right with pine trees on a hillside, the painting quickly swells into land masses that fill the upper portion of the paper at center. The scene gradually recedes on the left side, ending quietly in heavy fog. The painter's inscription, on the right side, reads:
"Painted by Chikkei in the summer of 1846." Son of a well-known painter, Nakabayashi Chikkei worked in a tradition of Japanese painting that drew inspiration from styles of Chinese scholar-painters.