Description
This screen depicts an episode from the Tales of Ise, a 10th-century collection of poems and associated narratives in which the main character composes the following poem while drinking sake and viewing cherry blossoms: If, in this world of ours / All the cherry blossoms / Disappeared / The heart of spring / Might find peace.
Our hero relaxes on a shoulder rest, gazing at the flowers, his sake dish before him on a lacquered stand. A plump boy attendant monitors the sake dishes, a ewer at the ready. An associate sits with paper, ink, and brush, poised to record poems.
Our hero relaxes on a shoulder rest, gazing at the flowers, his sake dish before him on a lacquered stand. A plump boy attendant monitors the sake dishes, a ewer at the ready. An associate sits with paper, ink, and brush, poised to record poems.
Provenance
Chester Dale Carter (?–1980); (Sotheby's New York, NY, December 18, 1980 sale, lot 131, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (December 18, 1980); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1980–)
Accession Number
1981.2
Medium
Two-panel folding screen; ink, color, lacquer, and gold on silk
Dimensions
Image: 175.3 x 190.5 cm (69 x 75 in.); Each side: 162.8 x 88.6 cm (64 1/8 x 34 7/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
