Rocky landscape with wild geese

Object Details

• Artist

  Gakuo Zokyu (active ca. 1500)

• Provenance

  As early as 1903-no later than 1910

  Baron Junzō Gō (1825-1910), method of acquisition unknown [1]

  Possibly 1910-no later than 1942

  Baron Seinosuke Gō (1865-1942), possibly by inheritance through his father [2]

  About 1942-1957

  The object’s ownership and whereabouts are unknown

  By at least 1957-1960

  The Fan Company, New York, method of acquisition unknown [3]

  From 1960

  The Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from The Fan Company, New York [4]

  Notes:

  [1] See Richard Stanley Baker, “Gakuō’s Eight Views of Hsiao and Hsiang,” in “Oriental Art” vol. 2, no. 3 (Autumn 1974): pp. 284, fig. 15, “The five Hsiao-hsiang works by Gakuō with which we shall be mainly concerned consist of the three paintings formerly in the Baron Gō collection, one of which is now in the Freer Gallery”. Baron Junzō Gō (1825-1910) was a shogun’s retainer, a statesman, and a bureaucrat in the Ministry of the Treasury. His son Seinosuke Gō (1865-1942) would serve as president of the Tokyo stock exchange, numerous businesses, and as a member of the House of Peers. Seinosuke was awarded the title of Baron and bequeathed a collection of netsuke to the Tokyo National Museum.

  [2] See Stanley Baker, op. cit. p. 302, footnote 1, “These three paintings were seen in the Gō collection by Tanaka Ichimatsu in 1933, as he notes in “Gakuō Zōkyū no shiteki ichi”, (Nihon Kaigashi Ronshū, Tokyo, 1966), where he described them as “Descending Geese”, “Evening Snow” and “Sunset Glow”…The “Descending Geese” re-appeared in the Freer Gallery in 1960.” With the death of Junzō Gō in 1910, Tanaka may be referring to Junzō’s son, Seinosuke, who would become Baron Gō. Despite Tanaka’s recollection, published in 1966, it is unknown when the object left the Gō collection.

  [3] See January 30, 1957 memo and list, copy in object file, from The Fan Company, New York, when the object was delivered to the Freer for examination. The object is listed as kakemono no. E10.

  See also Freer Gallery of Art vault card V25.57, copy in object file, showing that “T. Shimo, Yamanaka & Co., Kyoto, Japan” left the object with the Freer on January 29, 1957.

  [4] See object file for copy of The Fan Company invoice to Freer Gallery of Art, dated August 9, 1960, and marked approved by the Acting Secretary on March 15, 1957.

  Research updated April 5, 2023

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Mind Over Matter: Zen in Medieval Japan (March 5, 2022 - July 24, 2022)

  Zen, Tea, and Chinese Art in Medieval Japan (December 13, 2014 to June 14, 2015)

  Japanese Art (May 9, 1993 to June 27, 1994)

  Japanese Art: Paintings and Pottery (July 1, 1966 to May 2, 1973)

  Japanese Art (January 1, 1963 to July 1, 1966)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Baron Junzo Go (1825-1910)

  Baron Seinosuke Go (1865-1942)

  The Fan Company

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1500s, 1600s

• Name

  Go, Junzo, The Fan Company, Go, Seinosuke

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Trees, Pavilion, Landscapes, Art, Hill, Goose, Waterfalls, Japanese Art, Kakemono

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings