Farewell Gift to Tani Bunji 1833

"Farewell Gift to Tani Bunji" is an 1833 hanging scroll by Okada Hankō, a prominent Japanese painter of the Edo period, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The ink-and-color painting depicts a serene landscape with verdant hills, a winding river, and a traditional Japanese house. It evokes a sense of tranquility and evokes the beauty of nature, a signature theme in Japanese art. Hankō’s masterful brushstrokes, combined with subtle washes of color, create a realistic and delicate representation of the scene, capturing the essence of the subject. This painting is an excellent example of the “bunjinga” style, which emphasized the artist’s individual expression and literary refinement.