Heron under Lotus Leaf | Kanō Furunobu (Eisen) attr. 狩野栄川 | 1694-1731

This painting is unsigned, but the box it came in bore an inscription stating that the painter was Kanō Furunobu. Therefore, the object is treated only as "attributed." Stylistically, it is certainly a painting from the Kanō school of the 17th/18th century, and its quality makes it quite conceivable that it was indeed by the son of the famous Kanō Takanobu.

The motif is associated with the Zen world; Zen priests often used it in their paintings. The white (pure!) heron, standing motionless on one leg in a murky pond beneath a weathered or even rotting lotus leaf, is completely focused on hunting its prey. When it sees a fish, it strikes in a split second. This is a metaphor for the meditator, for whom complete stillness and concentration are also required. Only then is it possible to achieve enlightenment, experienced as instantly as the heron snatches its prey.      

The image was mounted on a wooden panel and framed with a band of iridescent watercolors, like those associated with a pond.