Landscape. Seasons: autumn and winter

Object Details

• Artist

  Sesson Shukei 雪村周継 (1504-1589)

• Provenance

  ?-?

  Reportly owned by Count Tadamasa Sakai, Japan, method of acquisition unknown [1]

  ?-1966

  Satoru Nakazawa, Osaka, Japan, possibly purchased from Count Tadamasa Sakai [2]

  1965-1966

  Kunimori Taniyama, Kanagawa, Japan, acting as agent for Satoru Nakazawa [3]

  From 1966

  Freer Gallery Art, purchased from Satoru Nakazawa, Osaka, Japan, through Kunimori Taniyama, Kanagawa, Japan [4]

  Notes:

  [1] See object file for copy of letter from Kunimori Taniyama to H. P. Stern, dated September 8, 1965. Taniyama wrote that Satoru Nakazawa, the owner of this object, said that he had purchased it from Count Sakai. No date of purchase is indicated in this or other communications. Count Tadamasa Sakai was a government minister in Japan and a collector of Japanese art. He was the founder and first director of the Sumo Museum in Tokyo, Japan.

  [2] See object file for letter from Satoru Nakazawa to H. P. Stern, dated March 18, 1965, informing Stern that Kunimori Taniyama was his intermediary for the sale of his Kaigetsudō “Beauty”. See also object file for numerous lettes between Taniyama and Stern regarding this object, beginning January 15, 1965, and extending through January 11, 1966. Satoru Nakazawa was a collector, and possibly an occasional dealer, of Japanese art, based in Osaka, Japan. Kunimori Taniyama was an dealer of Japanese art, active from at least 1957 to 1969. He was based in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

  [3] See note 1. Additionally, see object file for Freer Gallery of Art vault card V68.65, indicating the object was delivered to the Freer via airfreight from K. Taniyama of Tokyo, Japan, on June 4, 1965. The object is described as “Sesson, 1504-1589, landscape (4 seasons) – autumn and winter ink and slight color – on paper; box.”

  [4] See object file for copy of Kunimori Taniyama invoice to Freer Gallery of Art, dated December 24, 1965, and approved by the Secretary on January 10, 1966.

  Research updated August 4, 2023

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

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

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Satoru Nakazawa

  Kunimori Taniyama

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1500s, 1600s

• Name

  Nakazawa, Satoru, Taniyama, Kunimori

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Landscapes, Art, Muromachi period (1333 - 1573), Autumn, Winter, Japanese Art

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings