The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Scenes from the Tales of Ise

Scenes from the Tales of Ise

mid-1600s
Image: 95.2 x 267 cm (37 1/2 x 105 1/8 in.); Overall: 109.3 x 258.9 cm (43 1/16 x 101 15/16 in.); Closed: 109.3 x 48.5 x 11 cm (43 1/16 x 19 1/8 x 4 5/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

While the 11th-century Tale of Genji is universally regarded as Japan's literary masterpiece, the source for visual imagery in Japanese culture is rivaled by another literary classic, the Tales of Ise. A 10th-century anthology of poems interspersed with commentary, the Ise portrays the emotional and geographical journey of a courtier from the capital (Kyoto) into the countryside and beyond. The poems describe features of the natural, untamed terrain, linking them to the rather melancholy state of the traveler.

Since the Tales of Ise was—and remains today—well read by educated Japanese, a person viewing these folding screens would immediately recognize its subject, organized as a series of discrete scenes read from right to left. Neither a signature nor a seal identifies the artist, but judging from related paintings, the work can be ascribed to an artist working in Kyoto during the first quarter of the 17th century in the manner of the painter Iwasa Matabei (1578–1650). This type of historical narrative composition became quite popular around 1600 among patrons favoring a distinctly Japanese style of painting which employed rich mineral pigments and a liberal use of gold.
  • ?-1969
    (Elm and Company, Osaka, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1969-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • 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 130-131, cat. no. 86
    Cuningham, Michael R. Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: cat. no. 38, p. 76
  • Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 24-October 11, 2020).
    Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Nara National Museum (organizer) (February 21-March 29, 1998); Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998).
  • {{cite web|title=Scenes from the Tales of Ise|url=false|author=|year=mid-1600s|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1969.127.2