Elephant

The elephant's face is painted large and straight on, at the center of the tall format. Big oval ears spread to either side, and the trunk hangs straight down with its tip curled. Toenails line the bottom edge. The elephant itself is left uncolored, and the background is filled in with ink so that the white body stands out.

The museum surmises that the technique of blackening the background applies the effect of takuhanga, a print made like a rubbing, to a hand-painted work. Pale and dark ink are used with great care, and the back is rendered with just three curved lines, an abstraction that is another point of interest.

In 1728 (Kyoho 13), a living elephant was brought to Japan at the request of the eighth shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune, and it is said to have walked from Nagasaki to Edo the following year. Jakuchu, then 14, is thought to have seen an elephant in Kyoto, and this work is believed to draw on that memory. From the signature and seal, it dates from Jakuchu's mid-seventies. Including this work, five paintings of an elephant seen from the front are known.