The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 25, 2023

Crossing at Sano

佐野の渡り図衝立

c. 1600–1640

studio of Tawaraya Sōtatsu 俵屋宗達

(Japanese, c. 1570-c. 1640)

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Hanging scroll mounted as a single-panel screen; ink, color, and gold on paper

Overall: 161.7 x 139.2 x 46.3 cm (63 11/16 x 54 13/16 x 18 1/4 in.); Diameter of base: 46.3 cm (18 1/4 in.); Painting only: 125.9 x 121.4 cm (49 9/16 x 47 13/16 in.); with frame: 151.9 x 130.1 x 3.2 cm (59 13/16 x 51 1/4 x 1 1/4 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1949.554

Location

not on view

Description

Like many paintings from the Sōtatsu studio, a Kyoto-based atelier that ran the shop Tawaraya, this one is done in ink, mineral colors, and gold, and is formally reminiscent of 12th- and 13th-century paintings associated with the Japanese aristocracy. It depicts a man on horseback with two attendants crossing a bridge that once spanned the Kino River in Sano in eastern Wakayama Prefecture. The composition was inspired by a poem by Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241) that translates as follows:

I stop my horse, but there is no shelter
as I brush off my sleeves
at Sano Crossing
in the evening snow.

Provenance
?-1949
(Hollis & Company, Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1949-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 923 archive.org
Lee, Sherman E. Japanese Decorative Style. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Reproduced: p. 67, cat. no. 66 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. 282 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. 282 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 380 archive.org
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: p. 121, cat. no. 39
Koyama-Richard, Brigitte. Animaux Dans La Peinture Japonaise. Lyon: Nouvelles éditions Scala, 2020. Reproduced: P. 161
Exhibition history

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).

Japanese Screens from the Museum and Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 23-May 8, 1977).

Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 1-October 14, 1984).

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).

Early Rinpa (Japanese gallery rotation) 235. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 23, 2020-January 17, 2021).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1949.554