Frolic at the Water's Edge

Object Details

• Artist

  Kano Chikanobu 狩野周信 (1660-1728)

• Label

  Paintings detailing the pleasures of seasonal outdoor parties were particularly common in the seventeenth century. Here, the relaxed activities of Buddhist clerics are one of several such scenes in which a cross section of the general population is observed at leisure. This painting is rare by virtue of its singular focus on male merriment and by its depiction of a social reality in seventeenth-century Japan, that is, an operative presumption of homosexual interest in the religious and military classes.

  The entertainment provided by dwarf sumo wrestlers at the far left probably chronicles yet another oddity available for the amusement of the revelers.

• Provenance

  Prince Arisugawa-no-miya Collection [1]

  To 1902

  Yamanaka & Company, to 1902 [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] According to a note from the Original Screen List (see Curatorial Remark 4 in the object record).

  [2] Undated folder sheet note. See Original Screen, L. 56, pg. 14, 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 1.

  [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

  Japanese Ukiyo-e Painting (May 2, 1973 to July 1, 1974)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Prince Arisugawa-no-miya

  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

  Usage Conditions Apply

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• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

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

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Arisugawa-no-miya, Yamanaka and Co.

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Trees, Charles Lang Freer collection, Boats and boating, Art, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Cloud, Japanese Art, Ukiyo-e

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings