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Ishiyama-gire, a page from the Anthology of Poems of Thirty-six Poetic Immortals

Photo: Paul Macapia

Ishiyama-gire, a page from the Anthology of Poems of Thirty-six Poetic Immortals

early 12th century

Fujiwara no Sadanobu

Japanese, 1088 - 1151 or 1156

This work is a perfect combination of calligraphy, waka poems, and paper decorations, all manifesting the splendor of aristocratic culture in 12th-century Japan. It is one page from the calligraphy album that transcribes the Anthology of Poems of Thirty-six Poetic Immortals, which is thought to have been commissioned to celebrate the sixtieth birthday of Emperor Shirakawa (1053–1129). The elegant cursive calligraphy was brushed on paper decorated with patterns printed in mica, as well as bird and floral motifs painted in a mixture of gold and silver pigment.
Page of a bounded book, mounted as a hanging scroll; ink, mica, gold and silver on paper
Overall: 52 3/16 × 17 3/4 in. (132.5 × 45.1 cm)
Image: 7 15/16 × 6 1/4 in. (20.2 × 15.9 cm)
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
51.210
Photo: Paul Macapia
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Japanese Art in the Seattle Art Museum, 1960.

Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Museum of Art, Japanese Decorative Style, 1961 (Chicago, Illinois, Art Institute of Chicago).

Orange, California, Chapman College, Poetry In Art, 1967.

New York, New York, Asia House, The Arts of Medieval Japan - The Heian Period, 1967-1968 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fogg Art Museum).

Los Angeles, California, Art Council Frederick S. Wight Art Galley, University of California, Los Angeles, Birds, Beasts, Blossoms and Bugs, the Nature of Japan, Mar. 30 - May 23, 1976.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, A Thousand Cranes: Treasures of Japanese Art, Feb. 5 - July 12, 1987.

Tokyo, Japan, Suntory Museum of Art, Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum, July 25 - Sept. 6, 2009 (Kobe, Japan, Kobe City Museum, Sept. 19 - Dec. 6, 2009; Kofu, Japan, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Dec. 23, 2009 - Feb. 28, 2010; Atami, Japan, MOA Museum of Art, Mar. 13 - May 9, 2010; Fukuoka, Japan, Fukuoka Art Museum, May 23 - July 19, 2010).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view Feb. 8, 2020 - July 11, 2021].
Published ReferencesFuller, Richard E. "Japanese Art in the Seattle Art Museum: An Historical Sketch." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1960 ("Presented in commemoration of the Hundredth Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between Japan and the United States of America"), no. 41

"Selected Works." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1991, p. 186

Kawai, Masatomo, Yasuhiro Nishioka, Yukiko Sirahara, editors, "Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum", 2009, The Yomiuri Shimbun, catalogue number 31

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