The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of February 9, 2023

Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals of the Buddhist Clergy

釈教三十六歌仙絵巻断簡

late 1300s–1400s

Japan, Muromachi period

(1392–1573)

Fragment of a handscroll remounted as a hanging scroll; ink and slight color on paper

Painting: 29.1 x 44.5 cm (11 7/16 x 17 1/2 in.); Mounted: 113.2 x 56.6 cm (44 9/16 x 22 5/16 in.); with knobs: 113.2 x 61.2 cm (44 9/16 x 24 1/8 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1985.88

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The monk Myōe kept a diary of his dreams that survives in fragments today.

Description

Handscrolls depicting eminent poets and their poems is a classic Japanese painting genre. This fragment is the end of a scroll, the beginning of which survives in the Tokyo National Museum. It has a preface stating it is based on a selection of 36 monks paired with their waka (31-syllable poems) made by Eikai (1278–1347) from Kashūji temple in the year of his death. These two portraits are of Jōkei (1155–1212) and Myōe (1173–1232), to the right and left, respectively.

Provenance
?-1985
(Mayuyama and Company, Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1985-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Cleveland Museum of Art. Tōyō kaiga no seika: Kurīvurando Bijutsukan no korekushon kara : tokubetsuten. 1998. Referenced: p. 100, cat, no. 66.
Myōe. Tokubetsuten, Kokuhō Chōjū giga no subete = National Treasure Frolicking Animals. [Tokyo] : NHK : NHK プロモーション : 朝日新聞社, 2021. Reproduced: P. 321, no. 27
Exhibition history

The Year in Review for 1985. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 12-April 20, 1986).

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).

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).

Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 7-July 8, 2019).

National Treasures: Frolicking Animals. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (April 13-May 30, 2021).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.88