The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of March 22, 2025
An Illustrated Marriage of Apparitions
mid-1800s
(1615–1868)
Overall: 29.2 cm (11 1/2 in.); Painting only: 25.9 x 1310.6 cm (10 3/16 x 516 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1987.194
Location: not on view
Description
The matchmaking, engagement, wedding, and birth of the first child of two apparitions, or bakemono, literally "things that change," are illustrated in this whimsical, humorous handscroll. Japanese folklore abounds with such strange creatures, most famously represented in handscrolls featuring a procession of 100 supernatural monsters. Aside from a textual preface and cartouches indicating the content of the scenes, the tale is told visually. The artist and whereabouts of the original handscroll are unknown, but a number of other 19th-century copies by amateur painters exist in Japanese collections, attesting to its broad appeal.- Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1987.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 2 (February 1988): 30–71. Mentioned: p. 70, no. 191; Reproduced: p. 68, no. 191 www.jstor.org
- Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 236). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 21, 2014-November 16, 2015).The Year in Review for 1987. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-April 17, 1988).
- {{cite web|title=An Illustrated Marriage of Apparitions|url=false|author=|year=mid-1800s|access-date=22 March 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1987.194