Featured image of Grasses and Moon
Grasses and Moon, Promised gift (to Harvard Art Museums) Robert S. and Betsy G. Feinberg, Photo ©Photography: John Tsantes and Neil Greentree © Robert Feinberg, TL42147.38

Courtesy of Robert S. and Betsy G. Feinberg Collection

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Tani Bunchō 谷文晁

Tani Bunchō (1763–1840) was a prolific artist and art historian who worked in many Chinese and Japanese styles. He was born in Edo, the son of the poet Tani Rokkoku, who served in the retinue of Lord Tayasu, a son of the eighth Tokugawa shogun. Like Sakai Hōitsu, Bunchō studied a wide range of painting techniques and styles current at the time, and he became an expert who recorded historic paintings and inscriptions in copies. Although he painted in individualistic styles, he is best known for his works in the Chinese-inspired Nanga mode.