Grapes

Kien Minagawa

Mid-Edo period

Donated by the Homma family

Kien Minagawa (1734–1807) was a Confucian scholar who excelled in poetry, calligraphy, and painting. He opened a private school called Kōdōkan, where he trained many students. At the same time, he was in contact with painters such as Ōkyo Maruyama, Rosetsu Nagasawa, Goshun, and Ganku. Kien’s landscape paintings were as highly regarded as those of Ōkyo Maruyama.

This painting bears the signature “Kyōsai Suiboku” (筇齋酔墨). Normally written as 水墨 (lit. “water” and “ink”), suiboku refers to a Japanese-style of black-and-white watercolor painting. Here, 水 (“sui”) has been replaced with 酔 (also read “sui”), a kanji meaning drunkeness—word play Kien used to indicate something he’d painted while intoxicated. This work demonstrates Kien’s love of sake as well as his high level of culture and elegance.