Daoist Sage and Hawk 1600 - 1700

Curator: This work, likely created sometime between 1600 and 1700, is titled "Daoist Sage and Hawk," and is attributed to Soga Nichokuan. It resides here at the Metropolitan Museum. Editor: It strikes me as serene, yet slightly melancholic. The muted ink against the gold background has this feeling of looking at a faded memory. It also seems like a folding screen? Curator: Indeed, it is ink and color on paper, mounted on a folding screen. Notice the contrast between the sage and the hawk: the bird perched high on a branch, full of vital energy, juxtaposed with the seated figure lost in contemplation under the sheltering tree. What interpretations can be found through such symbolism? Editor: I am really struck by the labour it would take to create such an elaborate folding screen. Preparing the paper, applying the gold leaf so evenly… I imagine a whole workshop dedicated to such productions. The material richness, the very physicality of the gold leaf, served to elevate the prestige of the patron. Curator: I understand what you mean. I see also the tension between stillness and movement, permanence and transience, life observed and life lived, embodied in the hawk and the figure. Notice the brushstrokes and the ink wash creating the figure, almost disappearing into nature? Editor: Yes! I am especially interested in the quality of that ink. Was it locally sourced? How finely ground were the pigments? And consider how the gold leaf itself, a luxury product, would circulate within the economy of the time, indicating cultural exchange. Curator: Very insightful! It reminds us how the artistic impulse is always intertwined with social, economic, and spiritual forces. Editor: Looking at art like this, considering the tangible and less tangible, really grounds it. It feels less like a rarefied object, more like a conversation across time facilitated by shared materiality.