Landscape with flowering vines

Object Details

• Label

  The graceful curves of trailing vines—bottle gourd (yugao) and morning glory—dominate this landscape scene. The roof of a small thatched hut appears at the lower left. Gold leaf and particles are extensively applied to depict land banks and clouds; stylized waves painted with silver pigment have darkened with age. The extensive use of gold in large-format Japanese paintings such as folding screens and the sliding panels that form the movable “walls” of rooms in elite traditional residences was not merely decorative in intent. Gold reflected

  the limited indirect daylight or flickering lamplight and imparted a translucent quality to the clouds and mists in landscapes. In addition, some art historians have suggested that the gold in Japanese screen landscapes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries refers indirectly to paradise scenes in Buddhist art.

• Provenance

  Yokoyama Bingo [1]

  To 1903

  Yamanaka & Company, to 1903 [2]

  From 1903 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1903 [3]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] According to a note from Original Screen List (see Curatorial Remark 3 in the object record).

  [2] Undated folder sheet note. See Original Screen List, L. 85, pg. 23, 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

  Seasons: Japanese Screens (July 9, 2011 to January 22, 2012)

  Landscapes in Japanese Art (February 2 to July 15, 2007)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Yokoyama Bingo

  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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• Related Resources

  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

  Bingo, Yokoyama, Freer, Charles Lang, Yamanaka and Co.

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings