Poem (1812): Art, History and Details

Poem (1812) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Rai Shunsui (Japanese, 1746–1816).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The Nanga, or "Southern School" painters of 17th- and 18th-century Japan were greatly influenced by Chinese culture. The subjects and styles of their work reflected the contemporary Japanese taste for imported Chinese objects and learning. A common practice among Nanga painters was the exchange of small paintings and calligraphies. They also celebrated special gatherings of artist-friends by producing individual sheets that were then gathered together in albums. The sheets shown here were part of such a gathering.

Object facts

• Title: Poem
• Date: 1812
• Creator attribution: Rai Shunsui (Japanese, 1746–1816)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Portfolio
• Technique: leaf from a pair of folding albums; ink on silk
• Dimensions: Sheet: 25.5 x 17.2 cm (10 1/16 x 6 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1972.117.2.6

Collection credit

Gift of Mary B. Lee, C. Bingham Blossom, Dudley S. Blossom III, Laurel B. Kovacik, and Elizabeth B. Blossom, in memory of Elizabeth B. Blossom

Further reading listed by the museum

• Graham, Patricia J. "Lifestyles of Scholar-Painters in Edo Japan." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 7 (September 1990): 262–283.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.