Portrait of Kō Sūkoku (possibly 1817): Art, History and Details

Portrait of Kō Sūkoku (possibly 1817) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Watanabe Kazan (Japanese, 1793–1841); Tani Buncho (Japanese, 1763–1840).

The work and its context

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

Master of portraiture Watanabe Kazan’s memorial fan painting of the artist Kō Sūkoku (1730–1804) features a variant on one of the deceased’s poems by painter Tani Bunchō on the reverse. The short, unorthodox or comic poem (haikai) reads: The grave is readied / and the sake warmed. / Oh, the cold! Kazan was a disciple of Tani Bunchō, one of the most prominent painters of his day. The two first met in 1817, the year of the 13th anniversary of Kō Sūkoku’s death. In Japanese Buddhist practice, the 13th death anniversary requires special memorial services, so it has been speculated that the two collaborated on the fan at that time. Many painters and print designers of the Edo period socialized with one another through poetry circles where linked verse poems (renga) and haikai were composed.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of Kō Sūkoku
• Date: possibly 1817
• Creator attribution: Watanabe Kazan (Japanese, 1793–1841); Tani Buncho (Japanese, 1763–1840)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Fan, wood with ink, color, gold, and silver on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 17.8 x 45.7 cm (7 x 18 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Fan painting
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1976.8

Collection credit

James Parmelee Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “Varieties of Portraiture in Chinese and Japanese Art.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 64, no. 4 (April 1977): 118–136.
• Ulak, James T. “Kazan’s Portrait of a Giant: Ozorabuzaemon.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 3 (March 1983): 99–111.

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.