The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Pair of six-panel folding screens depicting dark blue irises with pointy green leaves scattered across a gold background. The irises have thin petals sticking up in the center while shorter, wider petals droop down at the sides, occasional white and slightly darker blue adding depth. The leaves appear to emerge from the gold, starting part way up the leaf. A dark blue border with silver patterns runs around the screen's edge.

Irises

1700s

Watanabe Shikō

(Japanese, 1683–1755)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
pair of six-panel folding screens, ink and color on gilded paper
Painting (each): 154.4 x 360.4 cm (60 13/16 x 141 7/8 in.); Mounted (each): 170.7 x 376.7 cm (67 3/16 x 148 5/16 in.)
Gift of The Norweb Foundation 1954.603
Location: Not on view

Description

The subject of this painting comes from a 10th-century text. It tells of a young nobleman’s journey into the lonely countryside, far from the capital city of Heian-kyō (Kyoto). There he came upon a small stream, the banks of which were covered with blooming irises, on which the artist has chosen to focus our attention. While viewing the beautiful flowers the nobleman composed a poem:

I have a beloved wife,
Familiar as the skirt of a well-worn robe,
And so this distant journeying
Fills my heart with grief.
  • Matsukata Shōsaku (1863-1945)
    ?-1954
    (Howard Hollis and Co., Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1954-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Edgell, George Harold. Illustrated Catalogue of a Special Loan Exhibition of Art Treasures from Japan. [Tokyo, Japan]: [Sanseido Press], 1936. Reproduced: cat. no. 91 A, B
    Lee, Sherman E. “Irises by Watanabe Shikō.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 42, no. 4 (April 1955): 63–67. Reproduced: pp. 64–65; Mentioned: p. 66–67 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. 924 archive.org
    Lee, Sherman E. Japanese Decorative Style. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 86–87; cat. no. 85 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. 283 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. 283 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. 382 archive.org
    Lee, Sherman E. “In Memoriam: Emery May Holden Norweb, 1895-1984.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71, no. 4 (April 1984): 130–131. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 130–131 www.jstor.org
    Kanda, Christine Guth. “Watanabe Shikō’s Irises.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71, no. 7 (September 1984): 240–251. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 240–242, figs. 1–2 www.jstor.org
    Chiba-shi Bijutsukan 千葉市美術館. Shugyoku no Nihon bijutsu: Hosomi korekushon no zenbō to Bosuton, Kurīburando, Sakkurā no wadaisaku : kaikan isshūnen kinen [珠玉の日本美術 : 細見コレクションの全貌と, ボストン, クリ-ブランド, サックラ-の話題作 : 開館一周年記念]. Chiba-shi: Chiba-shi Bijutsukan, 1996. Reproduced: p. 184, cat. no. 153
    Cunningham, Michael R. Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: pp. 40–41
    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. 122–123, cat. no. 41
    Vilbar, Sinéad. “Triumphant Returns: Treasured paintings on loan to Japanese museums and archaeological collections go back on display in Cleveland.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 59, no. 1 (January/February 2019): 12-13. Reproduced: P. 12; Mentioned: P. 12, 13 archive.org
  • Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 7-July 8, 2019).
    Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009).
    Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 15-September 16, 2001).
    The Legacy of Japanese Art. Chiba City Museum of Art (organizer) (October 1-November 10, 1996).
    Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992).
    Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
    Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 1-October 14, 1984).
    Japanese Screens from the Museum and Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 23-May 8, 1977).
    Rin-pa. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (October 10-December 3, 1972).
    Rimpa. Japan Society Gallery, New York, NY (organizer) (September 13-November 13, 1971).
    Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965).
    A World of Flowers. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (organizer) (May 2-June 9, 1963).
    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).
    Special Loan Exhibition of Art treasures from Japan. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (September-October 1936).
  • {{cite web|title=Irises|url=false|author=Watanabe Shikō|year=1700s|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1954.603