The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Calligraphy (reverse)

Calligraphy (reverse)

late 1800s
(1392–1910)
Ten-panel folding screen affixed with album leaves (obverse), calligraphy (reverse), ink and color on silk
Image: 117.7 x 33.5 cm (46 5/16 x 13 3/16 in.); Panel: 164.5 x 43.6 cm (64 3/4 x 17 3/16 in.)
Bequest of Gordon K. Mott 1998.286.b
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

A calligrapher has brushed several Chinese poems about the four seasons on the reverse side, among them "Composing in the Daytime of Summer" by Tang poet Liu Zongyuan (773–819) and "Composing when Spring Begins" by Song scholar Zhang Shi (1133–1180).

Description

The front of this screen features an assortment of subjects: birds and flowers, landscapes, and scenes of everyday life, mostly in monochromatic ink with light colors. The screen’s reverse side conveys a number of classical poems about the fleeting beauty of the four seasons. Traditionally, only one side of a folding screen bears painted or embroidered images, since these were used as a background furnishing. In Korean houses by the 1800s and early 1900s, however, two-sided folding screens became noticeably popular, possibly inspired by Japanese double-sided folding screens, which mainly served as room dividers in Japanese households.
  • ?-1955
    Collection in Pusan, Korea, to Gordon K. Mott
    1955-1998
    Gordon K. Mott [1914-1998], Lakewood, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1998-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Kim, Chwi-jeong. "New Trends and Japhwabyung in the Period of Modernization 개화기 화단의 신경향과 잡화병." Misulsa nondan (2008): 253-287.
    Sŏn, Sŭng-hye. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011. Reproduced: cat. no. 83
    An, Bo-ra. "A Study of ‘Baeknapdo byungpung’ in the late Joseon period: Focus on the Example in the Collection of Boston Museum of Fine Arts 조선 말기의 百衲圖 屛風 연구: 보스턴미술관 소장본을 중심으로." Misulsa yeongu (2013): 323-351.
  • Old and New in Korean Art (Korean art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 28, 2022-April 23, 2023).
    The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 15-August 21, 2011).
  • {{cite web|title=Calligraphy (reverse)|url=false|author=|year=late 1800s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1998.286.b