Japan, 1600–1800 A.D.

                
                
Armor (Gusoku), 16th and 18th centuries; Edo period
Japanese
Lacquered iron, mail, silk, copper-gilt
H. 67 1/2 in. (171.5 cm)
Gift of Bashford Dean, 1914 (14.100.172)
ON VIEW: GALLERY 377 Last Updated September 14, 2012
This armor comes from the armory of Daté Yoshimura (1703–1746), daimyo of Sendai. The helmet bowl, signed Saotome Iye, dates from the sixteenth century; the remainder of the armor was constructed in the eighteenth century. The breastplate is inscribed inside with the armorer's name, Myochin Munesuke (1688–1735). The embossed ornament on the solid iron plates is characteristic of the Myochin school.
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
The Battles of Hogen and Heiji, Edo period (1615–1868), 17th century
Japanese
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper
Each 60 15/16 in. x 11 ft. 8 in. (154.8 x 355.6 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1957 (57.156.4-5)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The two civil wars that occurred in the Hogen and Heiji eras took place in 1156 and 1160. The fighting lasted only a few days in each case, and it involved only a handful of politically eminent figures of the Heike (also known as the Taira) and Genji (also known as the Minamoto) clans. Yet, historically speaking, these are two of the most memorable insurrections of medieval Japan; they signaled the collapse of an old world order and the coming of a new era. Bloodcurdling incidents of these two wars, mixed with romantic interludes, became the basis for the first historical war novel of Japan, the Hogen monogatari (Tale of the Hogen Incident). The Hogen monogatari focuses on the decline of the once supremely powerful Fujiwara aristocrats and the rise of the two military families, the Genji and the Heike. The Heiji monogatari, on the other hand, describes the jealousy and inevitable conflicts between these two warrior clans, as well as the temporary defeat of the Minamoto family.
The Museum's screens are the oldest extant examples that represent both the Hogen and Heiji wars. The dark greens, browns, and blues of the landscape, sharply contrasted against scattered clouds of brilliant gold, create colorful and decorative effects. The entire city of Kyoto, where the major military actions took place, is viewed from above, in a vast panorama. Mountains, rivers, houses, and hundreds of men and women emerge from behind the scalloped gold clouds. The most important military actions are depicted in the central areas of both screens, while the prologues and epilogues of the battles are scattered at the edges. There is no chronological sequence in the arrangement of episodes. The city and its suburbs seem to have been laid out first, with the historical episodes later fitted into every nook and corner of mountains, city streets, and buildings. Warriors swarm around palatial buildings or are engaged in fierce battles on the streets and riverbanks. These short-necked, stout soldiers have large heads with thick lips and strong jaws, revealing the uncouth but strong character befitting their station in life as men of action. Their faces, sharply tapered ankles, and exaggerated expressions and gestures closely resemble features that appear in the Heiji scrolls of the Kamakura period (1185–1333). Clearly, the anonymous creator of these screens was deeply indebted to an earlier tradition of war pictures. However, such elements as interior scenes, with their miniature opulent screen panels in the Momoyama decorative style, reveal that the artist was also very much affected by contemporaneous artistic trends.
                
                
                
                
                
                
Calligraphy of "Maple Bridge Night Mooring" by Zhang Zhi, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1770
Ike Taiga (Japanese, 1723–1776)
Two-panel folding screen: ink on paper
68 3/4 x 72 3/4 in. (174.6 x 184.8 cm)
Signed Sangaku and bearing three seals: Zenshin Sôma Hô Kyûkô, Ike Mumei in, and Nigaku Dôja
Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2008 (2008.66)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Onto two sheets of paper that were then pasted to the gilt panels of a folding screen, Ike Taiga, one of Japan's most prolific literati artists, inscribed a famous Tang poem, "Maple Bridge Night Mooring," a quatrain of seven-character lines that was composed by the eighth-century Chinese poet Zhang Zhi. In translation, the poem reads:
The moon sets, crows sing, and frost fills the sky.
Maple trees along the river and fires in fishing boats face me, sleepless with lament.
The bell of Cold Mountain Temple (Hanshan-si), outside Suzhou, tolls;
At midnight, the sound reaches this boat.
Taiga's calligraphy is flamboyant and diverse, with a sophisticated compositional scheme. The characters are large and small, the ink is wet and dry, and the lines are thick and thin. The work has a powerful spiritual tension that is communicated in its fluctuating verticality. It is probably among Taiga's best in Chinese-style calligraphy (karayô).
                
                
                
                
                
                
Clog-shaped tea bowl with design of plum blossoms and geometric patterns, Momoyama period (1573–1615), early 17th century
Japan
Stoneware with iron-black glaze (Mino ware, black Oribe type)
H. 3 in. (7.6 cm), W. 5 5/8 in. (14.3 cm), Diam. of foot 12 1/4 in. (5.7 cm)
Dr. and Mrs. Roger G. Gerry Collection, Bequest of Dr. and Mrs. Roger G. Gerry, 2000 (2002.447.28)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Tea bowls in the Oribe style were often shaped something like ancient clogs and described as kutsugata, or "clog-shaped." After a round tea bowl had been formed on the wheel, it was indented in several places, destroying the circular shape and producing an asymmetrical form. The exterior surface of the bowl was then worked with a spatula to make it rough and uneven. Flamboyant distortions and irregularities of this type characterize the aesthetics of Oribe ware.
This tea bowl's vital, organic-seeming form is paired with vigorous surface design. The rich iron-black glaze that covers most of the bowl frames the patterns in the white areas. Inside the bowl, each diamond-shaped compartment of the grid is filled with either the representational depiction of a flower or a stylized motif resembling a plum blossom (five dots encircling a sixth). On the exterior, various geometric patterns are boldly depicted in forceful black wash. Oribe ware that is mostly glazed in iron black and carries designs in black on the reserved white ground, such as this tea bowl, is called Black Oribe (kuro-oribe); Oribe ware that is entirely glazed in iron black is known as Oribe Black (oribeguro).
                
                
                
                
Coffee pot, Edo Period (1615–1868), 1650–75
Japan
Porcelain with underglaze blue and mounted with silver (Hizen ware, Arita type)
H. 12 1/2 in. (31.8 cm)
Purchase by subscription, 1879 (79.2.176a,b)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
A seemingly odd shape for Japanese porcelain, this coffee pot was made specifically for export to Europe. From the mid-seventeenth to the mid-eighteenth century, when Chinese porcelain production was in decline, the Japanese porcelain industry thrived through trade with the Dutch. Since shapes like coffee pots were unfamiliar to Japanese potters, the Dutch would provide models to be copied. Additions of silver or gold mountings to a porcelain vessel were common in export wares, highlighting the high value placed on porcelain by the wealthy European consumers.
                
                
Crow and Heron, or Young Lovers Walking Together under an Umbrella in a Snowstorm, ca. 1769
Suzuki Harunobu (Japanese, 1725–1770)
Polychrome woodcut print on paper
11 1/4 x 8 1/8 in. (28.6 x 20.6 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1936 (JP2453)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Suzuki Harunobu was one of the earliest woodblock print artists to exploit the full-color print technique, making him one of the most successful commercial designers in Edo. His first effort in making multicolor prints (nishiki-e), which had heretofore been made in black and white or with only a limited range of colors, was a calendar commissioned in 1764 and later widely marketed. During the next five years until his death, Harunobu capitalized on its popularity and designed hundreds of color prints of classical and contemporary themes.
Here an elegantly dressed couple stroll along under a shared umbrella beneath a snow-laden willow tree. The man is dressed in black and wears a hood, while the lady is cloaked in a flowing white outer robe. This fashionable pair reflect the rise of the wealthy chonin and their interest in elegant clothes, pleasurable pastimes, and the arts, especially woodblock prints. Harunobu depicted beautiful women as being slender and graceful. He did not individualize his figures, but presented them as idealized images without unique features.
                
                
Daimyô wedding set with pine, bamboo, and cherry blossom decoration, Edo period (1615–1868), 19th century
Japan
Sprinkled gold, lacquer
Hewitt Fund, 1910 (10.7.1–.31)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This wedding trousseau, comprised of thirty-one pieces, represents late Edo-period maki-e (decoration in gold and/or silver sprinkled powder) art at its finest. The Shimazu family, lords of Satsuma in Kyushu, ordered this traditional trousseau most likely for Taka-hime, who was married to Matsudaira Sadakazu, lord of Kuwana (Ise Province), around 1830.
The items of the wedding set are decorated with various auspicious motifs. The evergreen pine represents longevity and also symbolizes renewal. The fast-growing, springy, but at the same time very strong and enduring bamboo also stands for longevity and represents endurance and strength. The plum blossoms are the first flowers of spring, representing the renewal of nature. The combination of the "Three Friends of Winter"—originating from China—is associated with celebration, and considered to be an auspicious symbol. Cherry blossoms, admired in Japan for their subtle color and the fact that they fall at the peak of their beauty, also have auspicious connotations. The combination of the pine, bamboo, and cherry motifs (reflecting more of the Japanese aesthetic than the Chinese) is very rare. The explanation for the unusual matching might be related to the Matsudaira family crest, which is a stylized plum flower in a circle. The medicine chest and the medicine box show a different pattern, chrysanthemums beside a river, which refers to the legend of the Chrysanthemum boy, Kikujidou, symbolizing the achievement of immortality by drinking chrysanthemum dewdrops.
This wedding set can be divided into four groups according to iconography, with several subgroups according to function. All of the groups include decoration executed in gold and silver maki-e on a pear-skin background, and all have the designs of the two family crests. The most simply decorated of the groups features semi-high and flat maki-e, as well as foil application. Another group of works has decorations of pine, bamboo-grass, plum blossoms, and demonstrates the use of an additional technique, that of line drawing. A third group of lacquers has the motif of chrysanthemums by a river. This more complex group includes not only all of the techniques seen in the second group, but also techniques such as gradation-sprinkling, geometric gold foil cuttings, and carving with gold or silver foil application. The most elaborate group consists of lacquers decorated with pine, bamboo, and cherry blossoms, and employs all of the decorative techniques of the third group. In addition, the insides of this last group of objects are executed in the pear-skin technique, and their silver fittings are covered with black lacquer at spots. Most of the fittings show the Matsudaira family crest on a rapeseed background; some fittings feature both Shimazu and Matsudaira family crests. Arabesque patterns are also depicted on some of the fittings.
                
                
Dish with a handle (tebachi) in the shape of a double fan, Momoyama period (1573–1615), late 16th–early 17th century
Japanese
Stoneware with overglaze enamels (Mino ware, Oribe type)
H. 5 7/8 in. (14.9 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.443)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This piece is a fascinating example of Mino ceramics made in accordance with the taste of the tea master Furuta Oribe (1544–1615) and the technical changes brought about by the introduction, in the early seventeenth century, of a more advanced kiln type, the chambered climbing kiln modeled on those built by Korean craftsmen at Karatsu in Kyushu. The earliest and most important new kiln was the one at Motoyashiki, in Mino, where utensils for the tea masters of Kyoto were produced to order. At Motoyashiki, the green-glazed decorated wares known as Oribe ware were produced. This dish in the unusual shape of a double fan was used to serve food. Its decoration combining geometric shapes and abstracted natural motifs is characteristic of Oribe ware.
                
                
                
                
Dish with cherry blossom design, Edo period (1615–1868), 18th century
Japan
Porcelain with celadon and iron glazes and underglaze blue decoration (Hizen ware, Nabeshima type)
H. 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm), Diam. 7 3/4 in. (19.7 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.555)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The design on this dish is painted in the classic tricolor palette of polychrome Nabeshima ware: cobalt blue, light green celadon, and a rust-red iron glaze. This almost abstract image shows a spray of cherry blossoms, a flower closely associated with Japan, against the backdrop of a multicolored curtain. Nabeshima ware was a specialty product reserved for the military rulers and nobles of Japan, so it was expected to be distinct from the porcelain sold to the general public, as well as more sophisticated. Therefore, the production of this type of porcelain was carried out at a separate kiln from those making commercial porcelain, in order to keep the techniques and designs secret.
                
                
Dish with design of grasses, Momoyama period (1573–1615), late 16th–early 17th century
Japan
Stoneware with decoration incised through iron-rich clay slip (Mino ware, gray Shino type)
H. 2 3/8 in. (6 cm), W. 8 3/8 in. (21.3 cm), D. 7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.436)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Sprays of autumn grasses are depicted on the square surface of this dish. The outer rim, decorated with bands of abstract patterns—short vertical bars around the corners and horizontal dashes at the sides—is like a frame for a painting. The piece was initially formed not by using a wheel, but by pressing a clay slab over a kind of mold. The sides of the dish were curved gently upward and its corners rounded and shaped with indentations. Four looped feet were attached to the base. The marks left by several spurs, used to stack vessels in the kiln, are visible on the bottom.
Decoration on the dish is in white against a gray background, a particular color combination in Shino ware known as Gray (nezumi, literally "mouse") Shino. To produce it, an iron-rich red clay slip was first applied onto the white clay body. The designs were scratched through the slip, and the entire piece was then covered with a thick, uneven feldspathic white overglaze. In the kiln, the glaze turned bubbly and porous, and, wherever there was slip beneath it, gray; in design areas where the slip had been scratched away, the overglaze remained white. Where the glaze was thin or accidentally not applied (mainly on the rim and the base), iron-oxide red accents emerged, an effect that is admired.
                
                
Dish with figure, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1620
Japan
Porcelain with underglaze blue (Hizen ware, early Imari type)
H. 1 1/8 in. (3 cm), Diam. 6 in. (15.2 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.495)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
A lone figure is loosely drawn in cobalt blue on the blank white clay, covered in a transparent glaze. The free style of painting and the empty background of this dish reflect compositional elements found throughout Japanese art. The grainy quality of the surface was probably the potter's intention, since a rustic style was fashionable at the time this was made.
This dish is classified as early Imari, the type of Japanese porcelain produced in the first half of the seventeenth century, primarily for the domestic market. Early Imari was the first porcelain produced in Japan, and was made in the Arita region of the island of Kyushu, then shipped to the rest of the country from the port of Imari. The exact year when porcelain was first made in Japan in still debated, but it was most likely in the 1610s. Since this work dates from around 1620, it is a very early example of Japanese porcelain. Early works such as this were not mass produced and were presumably expensive to make, so they were considered luxury items.
                
                
                
                
Dish with hydrangea design, Edo period (1615–1868), 18th century
Japan
Porcelain with celadon glaze and underglaze blue decoration (Hizen ware, Nabeshima type)
H. 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm), Diam. 8 in. (20.3 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.556)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This dish draws the viewer's attention to a single sprig of hydrangea, a typical summer blossom of Japan, framed by a pale green mist. The flowers painted in cobalt blue paired with the hazy celadon glaze give the impression that we are seeing these flowers shortly after a summer rain shower.
The refined, almost poetic nature of this dish is appropriate considering its use. This is an example of Nabeshima ware, a specialty porcelain that was produced during the Edo period. The production of this type of porcelain was carried out at a separate kiln from those making commercial porcelain, in order to keep the techniques and designs secret. These wares would be reserved exclusively for use as presents to members of the ruling class. Nabeshima ware, therefore, had to live up to the highest standards and was made to suit a discriminating taste.
                
                
                
                
Eight-Planked Bridge (Yatsuhashi)
Ogata Korin (Japanese, 1658–1716)
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on gilded paper
Each 70 1/2 in. x 12 ft. 2 1/4 in. (179.1 x 371.5 cm)
Purchase, Louisa Eldridge McBurney Gift, 1953 (53.7.1-2)
ON VIEW: GALLERY 227 Last Updated September 14, 2012
This simple yet strikingly dramatic composition is a brilliant orchestration of colors and forms that seems to vibrate with sensuous beauty. Luxuriant clumps of irises offer a dramatic contrast to the geometric patterns created by the angular, weatherworn, grayish brown bridge. The flat surface and sharp, crisp edges of the bridge are softened by the applications of tarashikomi (a technique in which colors are blended by applying one over another that is not yet dry). This pair of screens is regarded as one of the artist's greatest works. The composition is a boldly abstract rendering of one of the most popular episodes in the tenth-century literary classics, the Ise monogatari (The Tales of Ise), a series of poems on love and journeying, accompanied by brief textual notes. This episode tells of a young aristocrat who happens upon a place called Eight Bridges (Yatsuhashi), where a river branched into eight channels, each spanned by a bridge. Admiring the lush growth of irises, he composes a poem of five lines, each beginning with one syllable of the Japanese word for iris, which immortalized the association of the flower with the place. The poem expresses his longing for a loved one left behind in the capital:
I have a beloved wife,
Familar as the skirt
Of a well-worn robe,
And so this distant journeying
Fills my heart with grief.
Korin depicted this motif of irises in a marshland several times, with and without the bridge, and at least once with clear narrative elements that include human figures. His signature, on the right screen, contains the honorary title hokkyo, granted him by the court in 1701 and included in almost all of his major paintings. The calligraphic style of the signature and the round seals, reading masatoki, indicate that the screens must have been created during the last few years of the artist's life. From about 1704, Korin commuted between Kyoto and Edo, where he hoped to find affluent patrons. Disappointed by a lack of success in the younger city, he returned home early in 1709; in 1711, he settled down and built a new house in Kyoto. These screens are thought to date to this period.
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
The Illustrated Life of Shinran (Shinran shônin eden), Edo period (1615–1868), 17th–18th century
Japan
Set of four hanging scrolls; ink, color, and gold on silk
each approx. 52 1/4 x 30 1/2 in. (132.7 x 77.5 cm)
Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, in honor of James C. Y. Watt, 2010 (2010.366a–d)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The lives of monks, who strove to model themselves after the Buddha, were a popular source for illustrated narratives. The first biography of Shinran (1173–1263), founder of the True Pure Land (Jôdo Shinshû) sect, was written by his grandson Kakunyo (1270–1351). Illustrated versions of the story appeared first in the handscroll format and later as hanging scrolls. The latter were displayed in temple halls during the annual memorial service commemorating Shinran's death. The entire set of scrolls was made visible to the public, allowing all the episodes in Shinran's life to be seen at the same time, while a monk recited the story aloud—a type of performance known as etoki (picture explaining). The narrative here progresses chronologically from right to left, bottom to top. Scenes are divided by horizontal cloud bands.
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
Incense box (kobako) in the shape of a Mandarin Duck, Meiji period (1868–1912)
Japan
Maki-e decorated lacquer
H. 3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm), W. 3 15/16 in. (10 cm), L. 5 3/16 in. (13.2 cm)
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.717)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This finely executed incense box features several gold and silver maki-e (decoration in gold and/or silver sprinkled powder) techniques and decorative details such as geometric gold foil application and line drawing. The box is shaped as a swimming Mandarin Duck; waves are depicted on the side. It is likely that this box was one of a pair, forming an auspicious symbol of love. Inside the box is a small tray for presenting incense. The style and shape recall eighteenth-century incense boxes, some of which were owned by European aristocrats as exotic curiosities, but this box was produced in the Meiji period (1868–1912), and thus represents the revival of the eighteenth-century style.
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
Incense burner (koro) with a reticulated cover, Edo period (1615–1868), mid-18th century
Japan, Hizen Province (Hirado ware)
White porcelain with blue underglaze decoration of maple leaves
H. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm)
Gift of Charles Stewart Smith, 1893 (93.3.11a,b)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Incense burners such as this were usually placed in the tokonoma alcove of a room both to scent the room and as decorative artworks. This oval-shaped incense burner has small legs, and a cover reticulated in maple-leaf forms to match the underglaze blue decoration of the body. The handle is a figure of a horse. The incense burner would have contained fine ash on top of which incense wood or incense mixture would have been burned. The delicate smoke of the burning incense would come through the reticulated maple leaves of the cover. The incense used would have provided a seasonal reference to autumn, along with the maple-leaf theme of the burner and other items displayed in the alcove, such as flowers and paintings or calligraphy.
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
Incense burner (koro) with reticulated cover, Edo period (1615–1868), 18th century
Japan, Satsuma Province
Earthenware, Satsuma ware with clear crackled glaze
H. with cover 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1919 (19.14.2a–c)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The cover as well as the body of this three-legged incense burner is molded and reticulated. The earthenware body is covered with a transparent, slightly yellowish crackled glaze, a typical glazing technique for Satsuma ware. Satsuma ware was produced in Satsuma Province in Kyushu from the sixteenth century by Korean potters brought over to Japan; later Satsuma ware was produced in Kyoto as well (Kyoto Satsuma). The body's material represents a transition between porcelain and earthenware, fired at a lower temperature than porcelain. The harmonic proportions and the delicate curves of the object, as well as its undecorated surface, are indicative of the earlier history of Satsuma ware. By the mid-Meiji period (1868–1912), Satsuma ware was extensively decorated in overglaze polychrome paint and gold depicting bird-and-flower compositions, scenes inspired by woodblock prints, or similar popular Japanese imagery to satisfy the demands of Westerners. After Satsuma pieces were introduced at the 1867 Paris Exposition, they became popular among Western collectors, but the most appreciated collectibles for connoisseurs remained early Satsuma ware.
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
Incense burner (koro), Edo period (1615–1868), mid-17th century
Nonomura Ninsei (Japanese, active ca. 1646–94)
Japan, Kyoto, Kyoto ware
Light fawn clay covered with crackled glaze and gold application; "flowers of the four seasons" decoration depicted in polychrome overglaze and gold paint
H. 6 3/4 in. (17.1 cm), W. 7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm), D. 7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm)
Mark: Ninsei (imprint)
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.668)
ON VIEW: GALLERY 229 Last Updated September 14, 2012
The richly decorated body of this incense burner has diaper patterns on its shoulder and a metal cover. The seasonal motifs would have made the burner suitable for use with several types of incense. Ninsei was one of the first Japanese potters to mark his pieces. Before him, almost all Japanese potters were anonymous. His wares produced in Kyoto in the second half of the seventeenth century are known by their colorful overglaze and gold decorations as well as refined Kyoto-style patterns. Later, his style was adapted by several artists.
                
                
Incense game utensils, Edo period (1615–1868)
Ryuryukio Shinsai (Japanese, mid-18th–early 19th century)
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
4 7/8 x 10 3/4 in. (12.4 x 27.3 cm)
Signed: Ryuryukio Shinsai ga; seal: Ryu
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (JP2065)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This privately commissioned, limited-edition New Year's greeting print (surimono) depicts various utensils of the incense game. It features a decorative mica stand, which held the small, silver-framed mica plates under the chopped incense wood pieces as they were heated in the incense heater. The poem refers to several spring symbols using word play, as is customary in New Year's greetings. Also mentioned is the first incense game of the year (hatsuneko), an incense game that celebrates the advent of spring.
                
                
Inro with decoration of Portuguese figures, Edo period (1615–1868), 17th century
Wood with black and gold lacquer
H. 3 9/16 in. (9 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.178)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The mutual fascination with which the Japanese and Europeans regarded each other after their initial contacts in the late sixteenth century was expressed in part by Japanese art objects that incorporated images of Westerners as part of the ornamentation. This inro, which was worn suspended from the waist and used to hold medicines and other small items, is decorated with the images of three Portuguese men, dressed in their distinctive pantaloons and jackets with large, ruffled collars.
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
Inrô with design of thatched hut, 18th–19th century
Japanese
Lacquer; ojime: pewter; netsuke: ivory
inrô: H. 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm), W. 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm), D. 9/16 in. (1.5 cm); netsuke: H. 1 in. (2.5 cm), W. 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm), D. 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm)
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (29.100.841)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Decorated with a combination of lacquer techniques in silver and gold, the inrô in the shape of a thatched hut bears the signature of Koami Shinsaburo. The ivory netsuke, signed by ôhara Mitsuhiro, depicts one of the Seven Gods of Good Luck known as Hotei. A rotund, jolly figure, Hotei's attributes often include a fan and a bag to carry his treasures.
                
                
                
                
                
                
nrô: Figures in a landscaped garden, 18th century
Japanese
Red lacquer
H. 1 9/16 in. (3.9 cm), W. 1 3/4 in. (4.4 cm), D. 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, 1910 (10.211.2081)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Lacquer is the refined sap of a deciduous tree of the sumac family. Applied in extremely thin layers in order to allow time for hardening, a single piece requires the application of numerous base layers before surface decoration is carved or applied. When exposed to oxygen and humidity, the lacquer hardens or polymerizes. As it hardens or cures, lacquer forms a lustrous, durable coating impervious to moisture. It is used to seal and preserve porous surfaces of various materials, usually wood, but sometimes it is applied to or combined with other materials. Pigments can be added during the layered application process, allowing darker colors to emerge as the carver cuts through the top layer, in this case red. Carved lacquer, a tradition more closely associated with Chinese practice, became a popular medium for netsuke artisans in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Japan.
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
Koto with Case, early 17th century; fabric koto wrap, 18th and 19th century
Goto Teijo, Ninth Generation Goto Master (Japanese, 1603–1673)
Japan
Various woods, ivory and tortoiseshell inlay, gold and silver inlays, metalwork
5 1/8 x 9 1/2 x 74 5/8 in. (13 x 24.2 x 189.5 cm)
Purchase, Amati Gifts, 2007 (2007.194a–f)
ON VIEW: GALLERY 681 Last Updated September 14, 2012
This rare acquisition is a tour de force of Japanese decorative and musical arts. The foundations of modern Japanese koto music were formed during the seventeenth century, although a strong tradition existed before then. This koto, with its copious inlay and remarkable metalwork by Teijo, ninth master and perhaps most skilled member of the famous Goto family of metalwork artists, documents this important musical development. It also reflects the status of its owner and the koto's role as a symbol of Japan. All but the instrument's playing areas are exceptionally decorated. Gold crane medallions set against a finely carved diaper pattern adorn the sides, which are framed in a virtuosic rendering of inlaid woods, horn, ivory, and wire that extends onto both the upper and lower surfaces. The ends, of tagayasan and shitan wood, are embellished with geometric inlay patterns and metalwork lions and flowers in ivory frames.
The elaborate black lacquered outer case, dating from the early nineteenth century, is decorated with gold maki-e cranes (symbol of the Karasumaru family) and geese, and its interior is lined with gold foil patterned with flying geese. The cloth wrap is composed of two silk embroidered fabrics of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century origin.
                
                
Kyoyu and Sofu, Edo period (1615–1868), 18th century
Okumura Masanobu (Japanese, 1686–1764)
"Stone rubbing" style woodblock print; ink on paper; H. 11 7/16 in. (29.1 cm), W. 5 1/2 in. (14 cm)
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (JP1589)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Okumura Masanobu's straightforward treatment of the classical Chinese story of the legendary recluses Kyoyu and Sofu (Xu You and Chao Fu in Chinese) features the figures with an inscription. Feeling as if his ears are dirty upon hearing an invitation from the imperial court to take political power, Kyoyu washes out his ears in a waterfall. Sofu turns his ox away from the cascade, which has been contaminated by Kyoyu's washing. The ishizuri-e (literally, stone-rubbing picture) style imitates the "rubbing" technique, a traditional method for collecting inscriptions and images from stone stele. Masanobu, an artist, innovator, and publisher, was one of the most important figures in the entire course of the ukiyo-e tradition.
                
                
                
                
Landscape and Chinese Figures
Nagasawa Rosetsu (Japanese, 1754–1799)
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink on gilded paper
Each 67 3/8 x 146 3/4 in. (171.1 x 372.7 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.75, 76)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The gifted eccentric painter Nagasawa Rosetsu depicted well-known classic images from Chinese literature in a bold manner filled with expressiveness and emotion. The right screen features a Chinese recluse wearing a scholar's veil. Sitting in his thatched hermitage by the seashore, he is served wine by his attendants. The rustic retreat, with its rows of barren willow trees, suggests that he is Tao Qian (365–427), a revered poet who withdrew from official life to a country house among willows and plum trees. The opposite screen contains a dark, swelling cliff face that looms over a small boat. One of the figures in the vessel might be the great Chinese poet Su Shi (Su Dongpo, 1036–1101) as he rides past the Red Cliff, an outing that inspired one of his best-known poems. The use of ink monochrome and choice of themes drawn from Chinese literature follow painting practices associated with Zen temples in the Muromachi period (1392–1573). However, Rosetsu has made the subject and medium his own tools of self-expression. The cliff face, for example, is rendered with dark ink and large, quickly executed brushstrokes that create a powerful effect. The choppiness of the water as the small sailboat is buffeted about further heightens the dramatic mood. Painted on nonabsorbent gold leaf with thick brushes, the screens convey a strong sense of pattern in keeping with the decorative interests often found in yamato-e.
                
                
                
                
                
                
Large bowl with floral design, Edo period (1615–1868)
Japan
Porcelain with celadon glaze and underglaze blue (Hizen ware, early Imari type)
H. 4 5/8 in. (11.7 cm), Diam. 12 1/2 in. (31.8 cm)
The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975 (1975.268.508)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This bowl is an interesting example of the early Imari style of porcelain. Early Imari was the first porcelain produced in Japan, and was typically made in the blue-and-white style, in which designs would be painted on the white surface in cobalt and then covered with a transparent glaze. This bowl, however, was covered with a celadon glaze, giving the vessel a soft green color. The shape of the bowl is reminiscent of a flower, and there are floral designs painted beneath the glaze.
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
Large tureen and cover with landscape decoration, Edo period (1615–1868), late 17th century
Japan
Porcelain with underglaze blue (Arita ware)
Diam. 10 in. (25.4 cm)
Dr. and Mrs. Roger G. Gerry Collection, Bequest of Dr. and Mrs. Roger G. Gerry, 2000 (2002.447.47a,b)
ON VIEW: GALLERY 201 Last Updated September 14, 2012
This large tureen is a piece of export porcelain made for the European trade that was conducted by the Dutch during the Edo period (1615–1868). It is decorated in the Transitional style, in which a stylized landscape scene is executed in underglaze blue on a white surface. This style originated in Chinese export porcelain and was popular in Europe in the first half of the seventeenth century. When, toward the middle of that century, the Dutch porcelain trade was carried out primarily with Japan, Chinese styles were used as models. This large tureen shape was not widespread in Japan, but rather was created specifically to meet the demand of European buyers.
                
                
                
                
Meeting of Emperor Wen and Fisherman Lü Shang, Momoyama period (1573–1615), ca. 1600
Attributed to Kano Takanobu (Japanese, 1571–1618)
Two six-panel folding screens: ink, color, and gold on gilt paper (2006.42.1,.2)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
This stunning pair of folding screens illustrates the legendary meeting between Emperor Wen of ancient China's Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050–256 B.C.) and an impoverished fisherman named Lü Shang. On the right screen, the emperor, full of pomp and splendor, approaches with his retinue, while on the left, separated by a vast void, the lone fisherman awaits his destiny. Although the screens bear neither the seal nor the signature of the artist, several stylistic features point to the painter Kano Takanobu, second son of Eitoku and father of Tan'yu, the two giants of the successful Kano school. His signature is apparent in the gold ink highlights on the tree trunks and rocks and in the bamboo and flowering plants on the right screen and the tall trees with withering leaves on the left, which provide lyrical relief to the otherwise austere composition. Most important, the figures' rather unusual fish-shaped eyes are shared by the figures in Hotei, a painting with Takanobu's seal and signature that is also in the Museum's collection. These screens and the signed work will serve as benchmarks for the attribution and analysis of Takanobu's works.
Midnight: The Hours of the Rat; Mother and Sleepy Child, Edo period (1615–1868), ca. 1790
Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, 1753–1806)
Polychrome woodblock print
H. 14 3/8 in. (36.5 cm), W. 9 5/8 in. (24.4 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1922 (JP1278)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Kitagawa Utamaro, one of the most prolific artists of the genre of portrayal of beautiful women, was extremely interested in images of mother and child in daily life. This print belongs to a series entitled Fuzoku Bijin Tokei (Women's Daily Customs). To illustrate midnight, Utamaro has chosen a mother who sleepily emerges from her mosquito net to attend to her child, who rubs the sleep from his eyes. The personal, quotidian nature of the subject exemplifies the new interest in the individual that emerged during the Edo period.
                
                
                
                
                
                
Netsuke: Ashinaga and Tenaga, 18th century
Japanese
Wood
H. 2 3/4 in. (7 cm), W. 1 1/16 in. (2.7 cm), D. 7/8 in. (2.3 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, 1910 (10.211.2348)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
Ashinaga ("long legs") and Tenaga ("long arms") are two mythical figures who utilize their enhanced extremities to capture creatures from the ocean. The pair thus transforms what might at first appear as physical disfigurements into a mutually beneficial attribute. Here Tenaga grasps the day's catch, an octopus, in his left hand. In turn, the octopus' tentacles ensnare Ashinaga's legs and Tenaga's arm, and one tentacle reaches up toward Ashinaga's back.
                
                
                
                
                
                
Netsuke: Autumn grasses with praying mantis, 18th century
Attributed to Ryûsa
Japanese
Carved ivory
H. 7/8 in. (2.2 cm), Diam. 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Russell Sage, 1910 (10.211.1271)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
The openwork, lacelike effect of this netsuke is named after Ryûsa, the carver credited with inventing this technique. The piece, carved on a lathe, is hollowed out. The dark, shadowy interior contrasts with the lighter surfaces of ivory, carved in high relief, and the stippled surface that here appears as mist, creating a sense of recessive space within the confines of this netsuke's two-inch diameter.
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
Noh costume (chôken) with water plants and mulberry leaves, Edo period (1615–1868), 18th century
Japan
Silk gauze (ro) brocaded with metallic thread
Overall 47 1/8 x 80 1/4 in. (119.7 x 203.8 cm)
Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1932 (32.30.4)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
An outer robe with large sleeves (ôsode) worn frequently for dances by Noh actors in female roles, the chôken is often made of silk gauze delicately patterned in metallic thread. Here, as in many chôken, there are two different patterns. Formally positioned at the top are large designs of water plants—omodaka, with its arrowhead-shaped leaves, and suisen, a type of narcissus—while mulberry leaves are scattered on the rest of the garment.
                
                
                
                
                
                
Noh costume (karaori) with cherry blossoms and fretwork, Edo period (1615–1868), first half of 18th century
Japan
Brocaded silk twill
Overall 65 1/2 x 64 1/2 in. (166.4 x 163.8 cm)
Rogers Fund, 1919 (19.88.2)
NOT ON VIEW Last Updated September 14, 2012
An intense chromatic effect is achieved in this robe, with its cherry blossoms in a range of colors scattered over bands of red and green. Fallen within moments after their full flowering, the blossoms poignantly evoke the transience of human life, a central theme in Noh drama.
The karaori is usually worn as an outer robe for women's roles, and the inclusion of red places this costume in the category of robes "with color" (iroiri), making it appropriate for the role of a young woman.
Among the formal and technical characteristics of this costume that point to a date in the first half of the eighteenth century are the absence of metallic threads, the length and softness of the textile's floating silk pattern wefts, and the allover patterning that crosses the boundaries between the robe's alternating horizontal bands of red and green.