列子図襖|The Daoist Immortal Liezi

Kano School

ca. 1606 · Set of four sliding-door panels; ink, color, gold, and gold leaf on paper · Asian Art

These panels depict Daoist immortal Liezi (Japanese: Resshi), who flies away on a cloud, while awestruck figures discuss his mysterious disappearance. These door panels, or fusuma, originally decorated the west wall in the central room of the abbot’s quarters (hōjō) at Ryōanji, a Zen temple in Kyoto. They are part of a set of forty panels depicting assorted Confucian and Daoist figures that were installed in the three rooms. Evidence suggests that this work was created by painters of the Kano studio under the direction of a son of Kano Eitoku (1543–1590). One candidate is Kano Kotonobu, Eitoku’s third son, who served as a painter for Ryōanji’s chief patrons, the Hosokawa family, after his father’s death. The screens were dispersed and sold to private collectors in the early twentieth century. While some panels from the central room remain in Japan, panels from the adjoining room have been acquired by the Seattle Art Museum and other collections.

Artist

Kano School

Date

ca. 1606

Medium

Set of four sliding-door panels; ink, color, gold, and gold leaf on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Purchase, Anonymous Gift, in honor of Ambassador and Mrs. Michael Mansfield, 1989