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Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals

Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals by Tatebayashi Kagei (Japanese, active mid-1700s)

Medium

two-fold screen; ink, color, and gold on paper

Dimensions

174.4 × 187.2 cm · image: 170 × 182.8 cm

Classification

Painting

Department

Japanese Art

Museum

Cleveland Museum of Art

Credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Accession Number

1960.183

Rights

Public Domain

Tags

male

About this artwork

Fujiwara no Kintō (996–1075), a Japanese courtier, scholar, and poet, compiled select examples by the most celebrated composers of 31-syllable poems (waka) from the 600s to the 1000s. Painters soon made these “thirty-six poetic immortals” a favorite subject, traditionally presenting the poets in sequential, idealized portraits paired with their poems. In this interpretation, a chronologically impossible gathering of these great talents is in progress. The screen’s composition follows one devised...

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