Description
While this subject has several Chinese precedents in Sung and Yuan colored paintings, Sotatsu painted the two grebes and two lotus flowers with only black ink, giving the painting a clean, simple feeling. Nevertheless, the artist exquisitely expresses the contrast between the blooming white lotus and the ripening lotus fruit. Contrast is also created between the two birds, one of which swims ahead with a half-open, upturned bill, as if in search of new bait, while the other quietly floats on.
Though this painting bears no signature, only a red Inen seal in the lower-left corner, it represents the technical perfection of Sotatsu's ink painting.
Data source
ColBase
"ColBase: Integrated Collections Database of the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan" is a service that enables a multi-database search of the collections in the four national museums (To...
Contents holder/Provider
Aggregator
National Institutes for Cultural Heritage
The National Institutes for Cultural Heritage (NICH) comprise four National Museums (Tokyo National Museum, Kyoto National Museum, Nara National Museum, and Kyushu National Museum) and two National Research Institutes for Cultural Properties (Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, and Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties), as well as the International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI) in Sakai City, for a total of seven institutions.
Last updated
June 1, 2026