Wisteria and Other Flowers

Object Details

• Artist

  Fuka'e Roshu (1699-1757)

• Label

  It is likely that this painting, now mounted as a hanging scroll, was once a panel in a pair of six-panel screens. Roshu, an artist whose father was an important official at the Kyoto mint, probably studied painting with Ogata Korin (1658-1716).

  The assortment of flowering plants is placed in a visually successful composition that bears no relation to the natural world; plants from all seasons are shown blooming simultaneously. A fine example of early-eighteenth-century Rimpa mode, the plant and flower forms are defined by delicately modulated polychrome washes rather than by ink line. The desired impression of a soft, natural cornucopia is thus successfully achieved.

• Provenance

  By at least 1955-no later than 1957

  Mayuyama & Co., Ltd., Tokyo, method of acquisition unknown [1]

  By at least 1957-1958

  Howard Hollis and Company, Cleveland, method of acquisition unknown [2]

  From 1958

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Howard Hollis and Company, Cleveland [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See “Flowers,” in “Kokka” [journal] #762 (September 1955): pl. 6. Cited as being “In the possession of the Mayuyama Ryûsendô, Tokyo. Mayuyama Ryûsendô (Mayuyama & Co.,) was founded by Matsutarô Mayuyama (1882-1935), with its first Tokyo location opening in 1916. After Matsutarô’s death, his eldest son Junkichi (1913-1999) led Mayuyama & Co.

  [2] See Freer Gallery of Art vault card 79.57, copy in object file, which shows that Howard Hollis, owner of Howard Hollis & Company, left the object at the Freer on April 19, 1957. See also June 20, 1957 letter from A.G. Wenley to Howard Hollis, copy in object file, where Wenley wrote, “Now in regard to the things of yours that we have here…and the Japanese wistaria [sic] and flower painting by Roshū.” Howard Hollis was Curator of Far Eastern and Near Eastern Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art from 1929 until serving as Officer in Charge of the Far East division of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) program in Tokyo in 1946; he resumed his post in Cleveland in 1948. He founded Howard Hollis & Company, specializing in Asian Art in Cleveland, which he expanded to a second location in 1961 in New York City. Hollis frequently partnered with Junkichi Mayuyama (1913-1999) of Mayuyama & Co., Ltd.

  [3] See object file for copy of Howard Hollis & Company invoice to Freer Gallery of Art, dated August 9, 1958, and marked approved by the Secretary on September 12, 1957.

  Research updated April 4, 2023

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Rinpa: Creativity Across Time and Space (October 1, 2022 to April 2, 2023)

  Bold and Beautiful: Rinpa in Japanese Art (June 28, 2015 to January 3, 2016)

  East of Eden: Gardens in Asian Art (February 24 to May 13, 2007)

  More Than Flowers: Sources of Tradition in Japanese Painting (September 2, 2001 to November 24, 2002)

  Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons in Japanese Art (September 14, 1977 to April 8, 1978)

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

  Japanese Art, Galleries 3, 4, and 5 (January 1, 1963 to September 16, 1970)

  Special Exhibition—Japanese Art (October 16, 1963 to August 18, 1967)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 3 and 4 (February 25, 1956 to January 1, 1963)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Mayuyama & Co., Ltd. (established 1916)

  Howard Hollis and Company (established 1949)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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• Name

  Mayuyama & Co., Ltd., Howard Hollis and Company

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Art, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Flowers, Wisteria, Kakemono

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings