The Four Accomplishments (late 1500s–early 1600s): Art, History and Details

The Four Accomplishments (late 1500s–early 1600s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Kano Shōei (Japanese, 1519–1592).

The work and its context

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

This is one of a pair of screens showing a group of elite Chinese gentlemen and their servants in the countryside. One man is considering his painting-in-progress. Historically, practicing or admiring painting was considered a skill essential for cultured men in China.

Object facts

• Title: The Four Accomplishments
• Date: late 1500s–early 1600s
• Creator attribution: Kano Shōei (Japanese, 1519–1592)
• Culture: Japan, Momoyama period (1573–1615)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and slight color on paper
• Dimensions: Painting: 153 x 358.6 cm (60 1/4 x 141 3/16 in.); Mounted: 174 x 378.5 cm (68 1/2 x 149 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Folding screen
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1979.46.2

A detail from the museum

Although the painter captures his companion's attention, his young servant is having a nap.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1979." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 67, no. 3 (March 1980): 58–99.
• Lee, Sherman E., Michael R. Cunningham, and Ursula Korneitchouk. One Thousand Years of Japanese Art (650-1650): From the Cleveland Museum of Art: Catalogue. New York: Japan Society, 1981.
• Cunningham, Michael R. “Byōbu: The Art of the Japanese Screen.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71, no. 7 (September 1984): 222–232.

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.