Flowers and insects

National Museum of Asian Art

Object Details

Artist
Tosa school
School/Tradition
Tosa
Label
In these screens flower beds stretch in narrow, undulating bands across a ground of gold leaf unadorned except for hovering insects. The sparse composition echoes in much larger scale an established style of floral under-painting rendered on paper intended for use in handscrolls of imperial poetry anthologies, on which a calligrapher would inscribe the poems in the empty spaces. The paintings are probably the work of an unidentified artist of the Tosa school of court painters, based in Kyoto.
Provenance
To 1907
Unidentified owner, Tokyo, Japan, to 1907 [1]
From 1907 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased in Tokyo, Japan, from an unidentified owner in 1907 [2]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
Notes:
[1] See Original Screen List, S.I. 134, pg. 36, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
[2] See note 1.
[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History
Japanese Screens (March 2007 to January 3, 2016)
Previous custodian or owner
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
1615-1868
Period
Edo period
Accession Number
F1907.128-129
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Type
Painting
Medium
Ink, color and gold on paper
Dimensions
H x W (.128): 155 x 361.1 cm (61 x 142 3/16 in)
H x W (.129): 155 x 361.9 cm (61 x 142 1/2 in)
Origin
Japan
Related Online Resources
Google Cultural Institute
See more items in
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Topic
insect
flower
Edo period (1615 - 1868)
Japan
Japanese Art
Charles Lang Freer collection
Record ID
fsg_F1907.128-129
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye35f98d85b-7f36-4595-af5d-f9650121cf5b
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