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Scenes from Essays in Idleness

徒然草図屏風

late 1700s–early 1800s

Matsumura Goshun 松村呉春

(Japanese, 1752–1811)
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Culture
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Medium
One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on paper
Measurements
Image: 146.5 x 330.7 cm (57 11/16 x 130 3/16 in.); Overall: 170.2 x 375.8 cm (67 x 147 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1971.43.2
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Matsumura Goshun inscribed passages from Buddhist monk Yoshida Kenkō’s (1283–1350) well-known collection of anecdotes, Essays in Idleness, across the top of the panels of this screen and its pair. Goshun illustrated the narratives with his vision of the figures who feature in them. The texts cascade down from right to left, forming unique compositional relationships with the images below. The episodes offer a veritable portrait of human idiosyncrasy, from one man’s deep faith in radishes to another’s inability to avoid nicknames.
A folding screen with six vertical panels features figural ink and color paintings on a tan background framed by a patterned border. Minimalist figures occupy the lower halves: from left, a seated man, two walking figures, an elder with a staff, a seated monk, a standing nobleman with a child, and a person reading a scroll beside a child. Flowing black script fills the upper portions, corresponding to the scenes below in watery brushstrokes.

Scenes from Essays in Idleness

late 1700s–early 1800s

Matsumura Goshun

(Japanese, 1752–1811)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

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