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Photo: Susan A. Cole
Butterflies
Photo: Susan A. Cole

Butterflies

Date1843
Label TextIn the early 19th century, a popular artistic genre among literati circles was the group painting, in which several painters and poets collaborated on a single work. Usually such works were limited to ten participants, but in the case of this elegant pair of hanging scrolls, over seventy different distinguished hands added a Chinese verse or a minutely detailed painting. The majority of contributors were members of the orthodox Kano school, a hereditary school of professional artists that dominated artistic practice in the late Edo period. Other contributors included natural historian and painter Baba Taisuke, reminiscent of a Japanese James Audubon. Baba, a high-ranking samurai, was most certainly painting from life, and not from imported copy books.
Object number92.47.324.2
Photo CreditPhoto: Susan A. Cole
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, A Sack Full of Tigers: Diffusion and Diversity in Japanese Painting of the 19th Century Diffusion and Diversity in Japanese Painting, Dec. 6, 1997 - Nov. 15, 1998. 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 Art Museum, Luminous: The Art of Asia, Oct. 13, 2011 - Jan. 8, 2012. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Tabaimo: Utsutsushi Utsushi, Nov. 11, 2016 - Feb. 26, 2017. Published ReferencesKawai, Masatomo, Yasuhiro Nishioka, Yukiko Sirahara, editors, "Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum", 2009, The Yomiuri Shimbun, catalogue number 52
Credit LineGift of Frank D. Stout
Dimensions75 x 18 1/8 in. (190.5 x 46cm)
MediumHanging scroll; Ink and color on silk
Photo: Beth Mann
Japanese
19th century
Object number: 33.1730
Photo: Paul Macapia
Japanese
ca. 1360
Object number: 49.92
Photo: Beth Mann
Japanese
late 18th or early 19th century
Object number: 35.66
Japanese
16th century
Object number: 50.126
Photo: Seiji Shirono, National Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo
Japanese
13th century
Object number: 56.182
Photo: Spike Mafford
Japanese
1673
Object number: 34.106
Photo: Beth Mann
Japanese
17th century
Object number: 35.600
Photo: Spike Mafford
Japanese
Object number: 35.606
Tsuji Kako
early 20th century
Object number: 2022.15.5
Photo: Spike Mafford
17th century
Object number: 34.107
Photo: Beth Mann
1719-1724
Object number: 33.1686
Photo: Paul Macapia
1770s
Object number: 84.9