The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 24, 2024

An Illustrated Marriage of Apparitions

An Illustrated Marriage of Apparitions

mid-1800s
(1615–1868)
Overall: 29.2 cm (11 1/2 in.); Painting only: 25.9 x 1310.6 cm (10 3/16 x 516 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

The matchmaking, engagement, wedding, and birth of the first child of two apparitions, or bakemono, literally "things that change," are illustrated in this whimsical, humorous handscroll. Japanese folklore abounds with such strange creatures, most famously represented in handscrolls featuring a procession of 100 supernatural monsters. Aside from a textual preface and cartouches indicating the content of the scenes, the tale is told visually. The artist and whereabouts of the original handscroll are unknown, but a number of other 19th-century copies by amateur painters exist in Japanese collections, attesting to its broad appeal.
  • Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1987.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 2 (February 1988): 30–71. Mentioned: p. 70, no. 191; Reproduced: p. 68, no. 191 www.jstor.org
  • Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 236). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 21, 2014-November 16, 2015).
    The Year in Review for 1987. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-April 17, 1988).
  • {{cite web|title=An Illustrated Marriage of Apparitions|url=false|author=|year=mid-1800s|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1987.194