Scene from the Tales of Ise: “Mount Utsu” 1700 - 1733

This fan painting depicting a scene from the Tales of Ise was made by Fukae Roshū in eighteenth-century Japan. Roshū worked with ink and color on paper, materials long established in the Japanese tradition, but here he applied them to the unusual format of a rigid fan, with a semi-circular picture plane. The painting demonstrates the artist's mastery of brushwork, particularly in the subtle gradations of color used to depict the landscape. The ink is applied in washes, building up depth and texture to bring to life the mountain pass. The figures are rendered with careful attention to detail, their clothing and posture conveying a sense of elegance and refinement. The fan format itself would have been produced through a combination of handcraft and industrial manufacturing, from the paper and dyes to the lacquer. This reflects a complex interplay of labor and consumption, in which both high aesthetic refinement and everyday life combine. Approaching the work in this way helps us to look beyond conventional distinctions between fine art and craft.