A bearded scholar props his elbows on the side of his boat and rests his chin in his hands, leaning over to catch a glimpse of lotuses scattered across the surface of a pond. He is recognizable as the northern song-dynasty philosopher zhou maoshu (chinese: zhou dunyi, 1017–1073). A leading figure in early neo-confucian thought, zhou wrote, among other texts, the short essay “on the love of the lotus” (“ai lian shuo”), in which he describes the lotus as a “man of virtue,” in contrast to the “hermitlike” chrysanthemum and the “aristocratic” peony. After the death of his father, kaihō yūshō (1533–1615), yūsetsu operated a shop selling readymade pictures under the name “chūzaemon. ” later, he received patronage of tokugawa iemitsu, the third shogun, and reverted to using the family name kaihō. Object Type: Japan, Hanging scroll, Paintings. Date: mid-17th century. Dimensions: Image: 12 3/4 × 19 5/8 in. (32.4 × 49.8 cm); Overall with mounting: 47 3/16 × 24 7/16 in. (119.8 × 62 cm); ; Overall with knobs: 47 3/16 × 26 1/4 in. (119.8 × 66.7 cm). Medium: ink on silk. Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art. 周茂叔愛蓮図-Zhou Maoshu Admiring Lotuses MET DP-12232-283
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