Folding Screens of The Thirty-Six Immortal Poets
- Person
-
賛者近衛信尹
- Date
-
制作年 Early Edo period(17th century)
- Title
- サンジュウロッカセンズビョウブ
- Measurements
- 156.5×354.1 (right screen) / 156.5×355.0 (left screen)
- Materials, techniques and shape
- Color on paper
- Collections
- Century Akao Collection
- Depository
- Keio Museum Commons Campus Mita
This is a pair of six-panel folding screens with group scenes containing 18 poets on each one. The painter is unknown, but the calligraphy for all 36 of the waka poems, executed in the master's distinctively large strokes, is by Konoe Nobutada (1565-1614). Nobutada is here at the pinnacle of his oeuvre and the free distribution of ink density, the fine flowing lines, linkage and other elements all combine to create the impression of a river flowing fast through a valley. This effect is particularly enhanced by the master's bold, sweeping brush.
This pair of folding screens depicts eighteen of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets poets on each screen. In medieval times, paintings of these poets were mainly displayed on handscrolls (see no. 10), but artists started painting them on wooden votive frames (ema) and mounting them on folding screens during the early modern period as well. The positioning of the poets sitting in lines behind one another, divided on a left and right screen, is very lifelike and makes it seem as if we are witnessing a poetry contest from medieval times, when poets competed to write the best poems. The way in which the peeling and fading of the paint has been reproduced is unusual and makes it seem as if these paintings were copied from an original. This can be witnessed from the monk Sosei (dates unknown) on the fifth panel (counted from right to left) of the right screen and ŌSHIKŌCHI no Mitsune (dates unknown) on the sixth panel of the left screen.
On the upper part of the screens, the poems have been inscribed above the poets. The calligrapher of the screen is said to be KONOE Nobutada (1565–1614), the founder of the Sanmyakuin School. The waka poems are richly scattered above the paintings in varied compositions, reminding us of Nobutada’s skill and reputation as a calligrapher. Similar works are often inscribed by Nobutada, which may provide an important clue to the relationship between the various early depictions of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets from the early modern period.
Description from the exhibition Catalogue "Letter-scape: Century Akao Collection, A World of Letters and Figures", Keio Museum Commons, April 2021
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- Title (EN)
- Folding Screens of The Thirty-Six Immortal Poets
Physical description
- Weights and quantities
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Quantity 6曲1双
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