Long Brows, Crooked Staff

Viewing notes

A viewer's written impression — not a buyer review or first-hand record

This copper-toned seated figure leans on a staff taller than himself. Perched on a rock's edge, the old monk grips a gnarled, crooked staff whose top bends into a hook; his face is lifted, eyes narrowed in a smile, as if, resting mid-journey, he had glanced up at the sky. Most striking of all are the two long eyebrows, fine strands trailing down from the brow ridge to his cheeks. His chest is bare, the long robe draped over his shoulders, its folds sliding along the raised knee and down the rock face, one cloth shoe planted on a lower ledge of stone. The staff is straight yet bent, the smile weary yet merry — the whole piece seems full of road-stories to tell. Set by an entryway, in a tea room or a courtyard corner, it is an old friend about to rise and set off travelling again.