Tanaka Rankoku 田中蘭谷 (Japanese, 1884-1959), Birds and Grapes, ink and colors on silk, early 20th century, Gift of Dr. Toshihide Hirose, 2025.107

In the Conversations Gallery, near the front entrance of the museum, visitors can see a group of hanging scrolls, part of a major gift of 40 Japanese paintings from Dr. Toshihide Hirose, an orthodontist and art collector from Hirosaki, Japan. The works date primarily from the early to mid-twentieth century.

Titled Gifts from Japan, the display features a selection of artworks by six artists from Hirose’s collection, including three hanging scrolls by Tanaka Rankoku (Japanese, 1884–1959). Birds and Grapes is a subtly colored depiction of a grapevine heavy with fruit where brush and black ink dominate. Touches of opaque paint define the roundness of the grapes and give hints of green and brown to the leaves and trunk and color to the three small birds.

Unseen in the gallery but noticed immediately when I first examined Birds and Grapes are previous repairs on the back of the scroll. The top stave (wooden bar) which supports the work as it hangs had been damaged, probably by insects, and most of the silk that normally would be adhered to the back of the stave was missing.

Hanging the scroll would be unsafe, so someone in the past mended the damage with pressure sensitive tapes. Two layers of thin paper tape, one brown, one white, can be seen in the image of the reverse top of the scroll. (above)

The tape was applied recently enough that the adhesive was still tacky and could be easily removed by slowly lifting it off mechanically. (above)

So that the scroll mount would again be stable enough to hang, I adhered strong, thin Japanese paper to the back and top of the stave, slightly overlapping the damaged edge of the original silk and paper backing. (above) The reverse top of the mount is unevenly discolored, giving it the appearance of several pieces of paper or silk pieced together. The top section is a single piece of thin, finely woven silk.

The now conserved Birds and Grapes along with eight other hanging scrolls and an album showing two small paintings from the Hirose collection will be on display in the Conversations Gallery until October 8, 2026.