National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

The subject of this painting is the playful figures absorbed in fishing, but they blend into the landscape and are barely visible. The painter is Ike Taiga (1723-1776), master of pre-modern Nanga-style painting (Chinese Southern School of painting). His primary interest seems to lie in expressing the natural scenery which meanders upwards from the bottom of the composition. The most remarkable feature of this painting is the rich sense of color tone achieved in spite of the monochromatic use of ink. This impression comes from the painter’s meticulous and varied use of brushwork and shading techniques throughout the piece. It was painted when Ike Taiga was around forty.