Untitled
Iwasa Matabei
early 17th century · Hanging scroll; ink, color, gold and silver on paper · Asian Art
For the Japanese elite, poetry was the quintessential literary experience. Idealized and deeply admired, poets were often commemorated in portraiture. In the early eleventh century, Fujiwara Kintō (966–1041) selected thirty-six "immortal" poets from the past, and their images became a popular theme in the yamato-e painting tradition. This picture, originally part of a set of album leaves of the thirty-six poets, is attributed to Iwasa Matabei (1578–1650), a renowned painter who is often credited with originating ukiyo-e genre painting. Portrayed is the poet Mibu no Tadamine (act. ca. 910), accompanied by his famous poem of spring: Is it just because They say this is the day which marks The coming of spring that the mountains Of fair Yoshino are veiled this morning in haze? —trans. Robert H. Brower and Earl Miner, Japanese Court Poetry (Stanford University Press, 1961)
- Artist
- Iwasa Matabei
- Date
- early 17th century
- Medium
- Hanging scroll; ink, color, gold and silver on paper
- Culture
- Japan
- Department
- Asian Art
- Credit line
- The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975
