Screen with Scattered Fans 扇面散図屛風

Object Details

• Artist

  Tawaraya Sotatsu 俵屋宗達 (fl. ca. 1600-1643)

• Label

  After fans were painted, they were usually mounted to framework made of wood or bamboo that the owner could fold compactly when the fan was not in use. Occasionally, fans were pasted to folding screens such as this one. Here the fan framework is painted on the gold leaf to resemble bamboo or lacquered wood.

  Japanese fans were decorated with gold or silver or with miniature paintings. Painters enjoyed the challenge of arranging scenes from historical or fictional narrative, landscapes, poems, or birds and flowers within the distinctive flaring shape of the folding fan. Sotatsu, an innovative painter who enjoyed the patronage of aristocrats in Kyoto, headed the fan workshop known as Tawaraya, which produced the fans for this screen.

  The Japanese idea of mounting fans in a scattered pattern intrigued Europeans and Americans during the second half of the nineteenth century, when many new ideas inspired by Japanese art were influencing artists and popular taste. Folding fans were a fashionable element of the furnishings of many nineteenth-century European and American houses. Fans of Japanese design are often an important motif in the work of the American artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903).

• Provenance

  Unidentified owner, Kaga [1]

  To circa 1882

  Mr. Yamanaka, to circa 1882 [2]

  Mr. Yamada of Koriyama, Japan, purchased from Mr. Yamanaka circa 1882 [3]

  From 1899 to 1900

  Yamanaka & Company, puchased from Mr. Yamada in 1899 [4]

  From 1900 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1900 [5]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [6]

  Notes:

  [1] According to Curatorial Remark 3 in the

  object record: "Not from Original Screen List. Formerly owned by Mr. Yamada of Koriyama, Yamada. Mr. Yamanaka sold this screen to Mr. Yamada about 1882 and bought it back again in 1899. Originally, Mr. Yamanaka says it was owned in Kaga."

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1.

  [4] See note 1. See also, Cuatorial Remark 1 in the object record, as well as Original Screen List, L. 37, pg. 7, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [5] See note 4. The majority of Charles Lang Freer’s purchases from Yamanaka & Company were made at its New York branch. Yamanaka & Company maintained branch offices, at various times, in Boston, Chicago, London, Peking, Shanghai, Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto. During the summer, the company also maintained seasonal locations in Newport, Bar Harbor, and Atlantic City.

  [6] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Rinpa Screens (February 25, 2023 to February 24, 2024)

  Sotatsu: Making Waves (Saturday, October 24, 2015 to Sunday, January 31, 2016)

  Japanese Screens (May 9, 1993 to November 13, 1995)

  Japanese Fans (April 6, 1984 to October 18, 1984)

  Japanese Ceramics (June 22, 1982 to September 27, 1982)

  Fans (May 18, 1980 to October 13, 1981)

  Japanese Art (October 2, 1975 to October 8, 1976)

  Japanese Art—Paintings (September 16, 1970 to May 2, 1973)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Mr. Yamada

  Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1600s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Yamada, Freer, Charles Lang, Yamanaka and Co.

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Fans, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings