Fowls

A family of fowl is painted in ink on a narrow vertical format. A long, arcing black tail catches the eye, and below it are a bird with carefully drawn feather patterns and small chicks.

According to the museum, the rooster is detailed from its comb and wattles to its feathers, tail and legs. The hen peering out from behind and the chicks in front are rendered simply, so the composition is easy to overlook. A little of Jakuchu's characteristic "sujime-gaki" technique, which uses the way ink bleeds, can also be seen in the feathers on the rooster's back.

The signature at the far left reads "painted by the Beito-o, in his 79th year," which dates the work to 1794 (Kansei 6). At that time Jakuchu was working in a hermitage he had built by the gate of Sekiho-ji temple (today in Fukakusa, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto), after the great Tenmei fire of 1788.