82-3/4 x 11-13/16 in.(overall without knobs) 50-5/16 x 11 in. (image)
Inscribed: xian chuang ren yue ming (Jpse: kans^o nin getsumei) (Japanese characters) "The bright moon shines leisurely through the window" Signed: Obaku Mokuan hitsu (Japanese characters) Square intaglio seal: [Shakkai T^o in] (Japanese characters) (The Monk T^o's seal) Square relief seal: [Mokuan shi] (Japanese characters) Rectangular intaglio seal: [H^ogai gakushi] (Japanese characters) (Scholar-gentleman retired from the world)
Gift of William and Marni Fechtman
Asian Art (Japanese and Korean)
Alice Boney, New York; purchased by William Fechtman, Indianapolis, in 1976; given to IMA in 2008 (TR10586)
閒窓任月明
The Ōbaku (Chinese: Huangbo) sect of Zen Buddhism was brought to Japan in the mid-1600s by Chinese monks fleeing the collapse of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The new immigrants used the term Ōbaku (Huangbo), which simultaneously referred to a monastery founded on Mt. Huangbo in 631 and to an important abbot who had resided there and who was posthumously given the name Huangbo after his death in 850.
Mokuan, who succeeded his master, Ingen (Yinyuan 隠元, 1592-1673) as the second Ōbaku patriarch in Japan, was noted for his bold, yet fluid calligraphy.
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