The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Vertically long hanging scroll depicting the corner of a terrace wrapping around a house on which people with skin tones the same color as the beige-brown paper engage in various activities. In the doorway, a person plays a koto, an instrument like a plank of wood with strings. Sitting on the terrace, to people play go, a board game. In front of the terrace, on person stands reading and another lays on their side, painting. The people have black hair and wear black, white, and red robes more defined than the faint lines of the house and tree, and golden-yellow weaving in and out of the ground and sky.

The Four Accomplishments

c. 1620–50

attributed to Iwasa Matabei

(Japanese, 1578–1650)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on paper
Painting: 115.9 x 51.3 cm (45 5/8 x 20 3/16 in.); Mounted: 211.1 x 64 cm (83 1/8 x 25 3/16 in.)
The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith 1985.269
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The small, golden jar holds water to mix with the youth's ink for his painting.

Description

This painting shows a woman playing a koto, a type of stringed instrument; a pair playing a board game called Go; a man deep in a book; and a boy painting an image of flowers. The group of fashionably dressed figures is set in and around a cozy residence, their poses conveying a sense of carefree pleasure. The scene is a playful response to a theme derived from Chinese culture that presents four notable pastimes of well-educated people.
  • (Setsu, Tokyo, Japan, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin Smith)
    ?–1985
    The Kelvin Smith Collection, Cleveland, OH, given by Mrs. Kelvin [Eleanor Armstrong] Smith [1899–1998] to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1985–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • "Shading related to 'Making beads' by Katsushige Iwasa." Kokka 國華 v. 58, no. 691 (October 1949). Reproduced: pl. 7
    Nippon Bijutsu Kaiga Zenshu [Complete Collection of Japanese Paintings] v. 13 Iwasa Matabe. Tokyo: Shueisha, 1980. Reproduced: pl. 49
    “Checklist of the Kelvin Smith Bequest.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 7 (September 1988): 292–295. Mentioned: p. 294 www.jstor.org
    Shimizu, Christine. Femmes Du Japon. Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1997. Reproduced: p. 140
    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. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 140, no. 93
    Grossman, Nancy, James T. Ulak, Marjorie Williams, and Laurence Channing. Art of Japan: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2005. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 88
    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. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 16, p. 62
  • 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).
    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).
    A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14-November 13, 1988).
  • {{cite web|title=The Four Accomplishments|url=false|author=Iwasa Matabei|year=c. 1620–50|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.269