Selections from the New Collection of Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern Times (Shinkokin wakashū) with Printed Designs of Chinese Lions and Crab Finger Grass (early 1600s): Art, History and Detai

Selections from the New Collection of Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern Times (Shinkokin wakashū) with Printed Designs of Chinese Lions and Crab Finger Grass (early 1600s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Hon'ami Kōetsu (Japanese, 1558–1637); Tawaraya Sōtatsu (Japanese, c. 1570–c. 1640).

The work and its context

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

Hon’ami Kōetsu was a calligrapher and craftsman who frequently collaborated with the painter Tawaraya Sōtatsu, considered the first master of the Rinpa school. Kōetsu brushed seven poems from the autumn section of a poetry anthology onto dyed paper with motifs designed and printed in gold and silver by Sōtatsu.

Object facts

• Title: Selections from the New Collection of Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern Times (Shinkokin wakashū) with Printed Designs of Chinese Lions and Crab Finger Grass
• Date: early 1600s
• Creator attribution: Hon'ami Kōetsu (Japanese, 1558–1637); Tawaraya Sōtatsu (Japanese, c. 1570–c. 1640)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Calligraphy
• Technique: handscroll; ink, gold, and silver on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 23.2 x 346.6 cm (9 1/8 x 136 7/16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Handscroll
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1966.118

A detail from the museum

Before becoming a master painter of screens, Tawaraya Sōtatsu painted fans.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• Masterpieces of Japanese Art; [Catalogue of the Exhibition] October 4 Through November 30, 1969, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1969.

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.