Album with scenes of the Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness)

Object Details

• Description

  59 painted illustrations remounted on a leather-bound volume decorated with gilded debossing and marbled paper guards. Few illustrations have been identified as scenes from Tsurezuregusa, a work of classical literature by Yoshida Kenkō.

• Inscriptions

  The spine is embossed with the title "Chinese Drawings". The inside (blank side) of the front fly leaf has a pencil inscription in the upper left corner - "109406/6" - and is stamped in black "Bound By Riviere" in a very small font in the lower left corner.

• Paper/Support

  European paper

• Provenance

  To 2012

  Joseph von Dressel, Jr. (b. 1927) and Maria Theresa von Wimpffen (b. 1929), Chicago [1]

  2012

  Sale, Chicago, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, "Asian Works of Art," March 29, 2012, lot. 826A: "A Japanese Album of Sixty Paintings" [2]

  From 2012 to 2019

  Alan Kennedy, Santa Monica, California, purchased at auction "Asian Works of Art," Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, Chicago, March 29, 2012, lot no. 826A, "A Japanese Album of Sixty Paintings" [3]

  From 2019

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Alan Kennedy, Santa Monica, California [4]

  Notes:

  [1] Joseph von Dressel also known as Joseph Drossel-Dressel, Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1927. Maria Theresa von Wimpffen also known as Maria Theresia Wimpffen and, as Maria Theresia Drossel-Dressel was born in Kainberg Castle in Austria in 1929. She moved to the United States in 1951 and married Joseph von Dressel, Jr. in 1952.

  [2] See auction catalogue, copy in object file, Collections Management Office.

  [3] Alan Kennedy purchased the album at the Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, sale on March 29, 2012.

  See Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record. See also the Acquisition Justification Form, object file, Collections Management Office.

  [4] See Deed of Gift, object file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Joseph D. Dressel Jr.

  Imperial Countess Maria Theresa von Wimpffen

  Alan Kennedy

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Alan Kennedy

• Type

  Album

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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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, 1890s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  von Wimpffen, Maria Theresa, Dressel, Joseph D., Kennedy, Alan

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Art, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Meiji era (1868 - 1912)

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Albums