Crossing at Sano

Description

Like many paintings from the Sōtatsu studio, a Kyoto-based atelier that ran the shop Tawaraya, this one is done in ink, mineral colors, and gold, and is formally reminiscent of 12th- and 13th-century paintings associated with the Japanese aristocracy. It depicts a man on horseback with two attendants crossing a bridge that once spanned the Kino River in Sano in eastern Wakayama Prefecture. The composition was inspired by a poem by Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241) that translates as follows:

I stop my horse, but there is no shelter
as I brush off my sleeves
at Sano Crossing
in the evening snow.

Provenance

(Hollis & Company, Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?-1949); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1949-)

Crossing at Sano

Tawaraya Sōtatsu

c. 1600–1640

Accession Number

1949.554

Medium

Hanging scroll mounted as a single-panel screen; ink, color, and gold on paper

Dimensions

Overall: 161.7 x 139.2 x 46.3 cm (63 11/16 x 54 13/16 x 18 1/4 in.); Diameter of base: 46.3 cm (18 1/4 in.); Painting only: 125.9 x 121.4 cm (49 9/16 x 47 13/16 in.); with frame: 151.9 x 130.1 x 3.2 cm (59 13/16 x 51 1/4 x 1 1/4 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

John L. Severance Fund