Morning Glories and Puppies 朝顔狗子図杉戸あさがおくしずすぎと

Description

These cedar doors were installed in the corridor of a building at Myogen-in, a temple in the western part of Aichi prefecture. This temple was once famed as a treatment center for eye diseases. Maruyama Okyo, the artist behind this work, is said to have painted pictures such as those on the building’s sliding doors in return for treatment there. The building was subsequently relocated to the garden at the Tokyo National Museum and is now known as the Okyokan.

The doors feature puppies with shaggy coats that radiate a sense of fluffy softness. The three puppies on the right side are all snuggled happily together. There are two more puppies on the left. The brown one seems to be playing with the vine of a morning glory. These paintings are infused with Okyo’s affection for puppies.

The morning glories serve two purposes. Firstly, they communicate a sense of scale and thus make it clear that the dogs are indeed puppies. Furthermore, the cold blue and green colors imbue the work with an overall sense of refreshing coolness.

You have probably noticed the images are painted towards the bottom of these cedar doors. This makes it seem as if the puppies are actually there, playing in a world connected directly to the ground we are standing on. It is thought many people passed through the temple’s doors to receive treatment, including children accompanying their parents. These children must have felt a sense of intimacy and affinity as they gazed at these low-positioned drawings of puppies and flowers.

This work uses composition and three-dimensionality to realistically convey the loveable innocence of puppies. As such, it exudes a charm unique to works by Okyo.

Adorable little puppies play among morning glory flowers in this work. Originally, these doors were fitted in the corridor of a teahouse in the Museum's garden called the Ōkyokan. Once the study of a temple in Aichi Prefecture, the Ōkyokan was acquired by notable entrepreneur Masuda Takashi (1848–1938), who then donated it to the Museum.