Ivy vines, bridges and floating fans 蔦の細道扇面流図屏風

Object Details

• Artist

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

• Label

  The image of painted fans spilling off from a bridge into a stream evokes the memory of the legendary journey made by a fifteenth-century shogun traveling from the center of Kyoto to an outlying temple. While crossing a bridge, one of the shogun's servants accidentally dropped his master's fan into the rushing water below. Struck by the sudden poignant reminder of beauty's fragility and fleeting nature, all in the shogun's retinue followed suit, casting their fans into the stream.

  For the literate Japanese viewer, the image of ivy leaves set within long bands of color evoked a passage from the tenth-century collection of lyric episodes, Tales of Ise. In the ninth episode a group traveling to the east from Kyoto encounters an ascetic in a dark and narrow valley filled with ivy. The ascetic is implored by one forlorn traveler to carry back a message to his lady, who is waiting in the capital.

  This skillful visual union of heretofore unjoined classical subjects in a common theme was a trademark of the seventeenth-century studio of Tawaraya Sotatsu (died circa 1642). In this instance, the two occasions provide ample reflection on the multiple meanings of happenstance.

• Provenance

  Sugiyama, Kamaoka, Hyogo prefecture, Japan [1]

  To 1902

  Yamanaka & Company, to 1902, purchased from a farmer in Sugiyama [2]

  From 1902 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1902 [3]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] Mr. Yamanaka bought this pair of screens from Mr. Sugiyama, a farmer, living at Kamaoka. See Curatorial Remark #3 in the object record.

  [2] Undated folder sheet note. See Original Screen List, L. 60, pg. 15, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. 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.

  [3] See note 2.

  [4] 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 (March 2007 to January 3, 2016)

  Japanese Art—Painted Screens (August 18, 1967 to May 2, 1973)

  Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Screens (October 3, 1947 to November 10, 1955)

  Japanese Screens, 1923 (May 2, 1923 to April 5, 1933)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Sugiyama collection

  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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  collections.si.edu

• 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

  Freer, Charles Lang, Yamanaka and Co., Sugiyama

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Bridges, Fans, Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Momoyama period (1573 - 1615), Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings