Orchids and Rocks c. 19th century

Clumps of orchids cling to rocks in this composition by Hidaka Tetsuō. Like many other famous painters of orchids, Tetsuō avoids solid outlines and instead uses several tones of ink wash to render the orchids and rock surfaces—an old Chinese style known as “boneless.” Tetsuō was a Zen Buddhist priest in Nagasaki, in far western Japan, rising to the rank of chief abbot of a major Zen temple. After retiring in his mid-50s, he traveled throughout Japan for several years, then returned to Nagasaki and spent the rest of his life in seclusion within the precincts of another Zen temple. There he spent much of his time writing and creating paintings in ink, mostly of landscapes and orchids, the subject for which he was seen as a master.