The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

A pair of large, six-panel, horizontally folding screens depicting scenes at horse stables. Each scene depicts horses in stables and people outside, playing games or involved in other leisure activities.

Horse Stable

early 1500s

Japan, Muromachi period

(1392–1573)
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper
Painting: 146 x 349.6 cm (57 1/2 x 137 5/8 in.)
Edward L. Whittemore Fund 1934.373
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This is the earliest surviving example of the "horse stable" theme in Japanese screens.

Description

Prized horses in stables may be the main theme of this pair of screens, but a lot of action is happening on the verandas. Falconry is the focus of one of the screens, while in the other, people challenge one another at two different boardgames, go and shōgi. A lively atmosphere develops in the interplay of the dynamic horses, the birds of prey, and the strategic games.
  • ?–1927
    Marquis Tokugawa of the Shizuoka branch of the Tokugawa family
    April 4, 1927
    (Tokyo Art Club [Tokyo Bijutsu Kurabu], Tokyo, Japan, April 4, 1927 sale, Lot 100)
    Shima Tokuzō 島 德藏 [1875–1938], Osaka, Japan
    November 29, 1934
    (Osaka Art Club [Osaka Bijutsu Kurabu 大阪美術俱楽部], Osaka, Japan, November 29, 1934, sale, Lot 82)
    1934–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Hollis, Howard C. “A Pair of Japanese Screens.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 24, no. 1 (January 1937): 5–8, 15. Mentioned: pp. 5–8; Reproduced: p. 15 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 920 archive.org
    Lee, Sherman E. Japanese Decorative Style. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 36–37; cat. no. 31 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 279 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 279 archive.org
    Lee, Sherman E. “Horse Racing at Kamo Shrine.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 64, no. 8 (October 1977): 255–275. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 255–256, fig. 1 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 377 archive.org
    Lee, Sherman E, Ursula Korneitchouk, Michael R Cunningham, Ursula Korneitchouk, Cleveland Museum of Art, Japan House Gallery, Japan Society (New York, N.Y.), and Japan House Gallery. One Thousand Years of Japanese Art (650-1650): From the Cleveland Museum of Art: Catalogue. New York: Japan Society, 1981. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 50–51, no. 25
    Cunningham, Michael R. The Triumph of Japanese Style: 16th-Century Art in Japan. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with the Indiana University Press, 1991. Reproduced: pp. 68–69
    Tōyō kaiga no seika: tokubetsuten: Kurīvurando Bijutsukan no korekushon kara [東洋絵画の精華: 特别展: クリーヴラント美術館のコレクションから= Highlights of Asian painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art]. Nara, Japan: Nara National Museum, 1998. Reproduced: pp. 102–103, cat. no. 68
    Cunningham, Michael R. Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: pp. 8–9
    Cunningham, Michael. "Two Exhibitions of Japanese Painting." Orientations, vol 32, number 6 (June 2001): pp. 63–68. Reproduced: pp. 66–67
    Admired from afar: masterworks of Japanese painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art [クリーブランド美術館展 : 名画でたどる日本の美 Kurīburando Bijutsukan ten: meiga de tadoru Nihon no bi ]. Tokyo: Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, 2014. Reproduced: pp. 76–78, cat. no. 26
    Singer, Robert T., Masatomo Kawai, Barbara Ambros, Thomas Blenman Hare, Federico Marcon, Masaaki Arakawa, and Thomas Blenman Hare. The Life of Animals in Japanese Art. Washington, District of Columbia: National Gallery of Art; Tokyo, Japan: The Japan Foundation; Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Princeton, New Jersey: In association with Princeton University Press, 2019. Reproduced: cat. no. 171, pp. 188–189
    Koyama-Richard, Brigitte. Animaux Dans La Peinture Japonaise. Lyon: Nouvelles éditions Scala, 2020. Reproduced: pp. 162–163
    Vilbar, Sinéad. "The Japanese Art Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1915-1951." In Great Waves & Mountains: Perspectives and Discoveries in Collecting the Arts of Japan. Natsu Oyobe, and Allysa B. Peyton, eds., 160–197. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2022. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 175–177, 7.11
  • Practice and Play in Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-November 30, 2025).
    Admired from Afar: Masterworks of Japanese Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (January 15-February 23, 2014); Kyushu National Museum, Fukuoka, Japan (July 8-August 31, 2014).
    Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 15-September 16, 2001).
    Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998).
    The Triumph of Japanese Style: 16th Century Art in Japan. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 19-December 1, 1991).
    Screen Paintings of the Muromachi Period. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (March 28-May 7, 1989).
    Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1987-January 10, 1988).
    Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 1-October 14, 1984).
    Reflections of Reality in Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 16-May 1, 1983).
    Japanese Screens from the Museum and Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 23-May 8, 1977).
    Japanese Decorative Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art (August 30-October 15, 1961); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (November 9-December 17, 1961).
    The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
    The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936).
  • {{cite web|title=Horse Stable|url=false|author=|year=early 1500s|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1934.373