Ito Jakuchu (1716-1800), Cockerel in snow, Edo period, late 18th century | 伊藤若冲　雪中雄鶏図　江戸時代中期　18世紀後半

Seitan sanbyakunen onaidoshi no tensai eshi Jakuchu to Buson [Celebrating Two Contemporary Geniuses: Jakuchu and Buson], Suntory Museum of Art, Tokyo, and the Miho Museum, Shiga, 2015, cat. no. 29.

Ano Utamaro ga kaettekita Fukagawa no yuki saikokai [Encore Exhibition: Kitagawa Utamaro's Fukagawa in Snow], Okada Museum of Art, Hakone, 2015, no number.

Seitan sanbyakunen kinen Jakuchu [The 300th Anniversary of His Birth: Jakuchu], Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, 2016, cat. no .8.

Seitan sanbyakunen wo iwau Jakuchu to Buson [Jakuchu & Buson: Celebrating Their 300th Birthdays], Okada Museum of Art, Hakone, 2016, cat. no. 4.

10th Anniversary of the Museum Part 1 Jakuchu and Isson, Okada Museum of Art, Hakone, 2022, exh. no. 13 (unillustrated).

Beneath a brooding sky, a rooster stands on one leg with its right eye wide and alert. Heavy snowfall has accumulated on the surrounding bamboo, bending the leaves and stalks gently under its weight. The striking interplay of the different feather forms have been rendered in exacting detail, from the sharp sword-like neck feathers to the curvaceous shape of the tail feathers. Kobayashi Tadashi describes the powerful S-shape of the cockerel’s mannered pose as worthy of the term yushi (‘majesty of form’).¹ The work is unsigned but bears the artist’s two red seals To-Jokin in and Jakuchu koji.

Jakuchu was the eldest son of a wealthy Kyoto merchant family who ran the wholesale greengrocery Masugen in the Nishiki market district. Although he took over the family business, this never seemed to be his calling. He eventually handed the business over to his younger brother in 1755, took the tonsure and devoted the rest of his life to painting. His formal training appears to have been minimal, but he worked obsessively, creating naturalistically precise yet spiritually animated representations of flora and fauna. It is thought that Jakuchu was influenced by the Chinese painter Shen Nan-p’in (active circa 1683–1760), who specialised in bird-and-flower painting (kachoga). Jakuchu’s magnum opus is The Colourful World of Living Beings (Doshoku sai-e), a series of thirty paintings executed between 1757 and 1766. 

1. Kobayashi Tadashi and Ota Aya et. al, The 300^th Anniversary of his Birth: Jakuchu, Tokyo, 2016, no. 8. 

展覽

《生誕300年　同い年の天才絵師 若冲と蕪村》，サントリー美術館/MIHO美術館, 2015年，編號29

《あの歌麿が帰ってきた「深川の雪」再公開》，岡田美術館，箱根，2015年，無編號

《生誕300年記念　若冲》，東京都美術館，東京，2016年，編號8

《生誕300年を祝う 若冲と蕪村》，岡田美術館, 箱根，2016年，編號4

《開館10周年記念展 第1部 若冲と一村 - 時を超えてつながる》，岡田美術館， 箱根，2022年,，展覽編號13（沒載圖）

伊藤若冲筆下，陰鬱天色中一羽雄雞獨立，右目圓睜炯炯有神。積雪壓竹，葉片枝幹承重低垂。畫家對不同翎羽形態的驚人刻畫展現極致專注，從劍刃般鋒利的頸羽至尾羽流暢曲線，無不精妙。小林忠曾評述此雞矯立之姿呈現的強勁S形曲線，足堪「雄姿」之譽¹。作品雖未落款，但鈐有畫家兩方朱印「滕汝鈞印」與「若冲居士」。

若冲出身京都富裕商賈家族，為錦市場區域青果批發商「枡屋」長子。雖繼承家業，卻始終志不在此，終在1755年將店務交託胞弟，剃度出家後潛心繪事。他雖鮮少受正統畫訓練，卻以痴狂之態鑽研創作，形成寫實精微又氣韻生動的花鳥畫風。據信若冲曾受中國畫家沈南蘋（約活動於1683–1760年間）影響，沈氏專擅花鳥畫領域。若冲畢生傑作當屬《動植綵繪》系列，此組三十幅作品創作於1757至1766年間。

1. 小林忠、太田彩等，《生誕三百年記念：若冲》，東京，2016年，編號8。