Tamme kastanjes aan een tak 1800 - 1900

Ishikawa Kazan, who died very young, around 1823, depicted sweet chestnuts on paper with ink and color. This is an example of what's known as "bird-and-flower painting," a genre with a long history in East Asia. But note Kazan’s method. Instead of simply representing his subject matter, he also gives us something of a botanical study. He clearly relished the plant's surfaces: the matte skin of the nuts, the spiky casing, the veined surfaces of the leaves. Consider also that the artist would have been thoroughly versed in the properties of his materials. The nature of the paper, the animal-hair brushes, the inks and pigments, and the techniques of applying them in the correct order. He was both an observer of nature, and a craftsman intimately familiar with the nature of his own tools. It’s in this deep knowledge and skillful execution that the work finds its ultimate expression.