Mask for the Noh Play Okina

dated 1879

Not on view

The Noh play Okina is a sacred rite in which actors perform as divine characters who dance for peace, prosperity, and safety across the land.While the character Senzai dances, the shite (lead actor) puts on the mask of Okina to transform into a deity. The mask shown here peers out from a brocaded silk mask bag embellished with the auspicious motifs of tortoiseshell patterns and crane roundels.

Artwork Details

柴田是真作　翁面図
Title: Mask for the Noh Play Okina
Artist: Shibata Zeshin (Japanese, 1807–1891)
Period: Meiji period (1868–1912)
Date: dated 1879
Culture: Japan
Medium: Hanging scroll; pigments, lacquer, mother-of-pearl, gold foil, and ink on paper
Dimensions: 11 3/8 x 16 1/8 in. (28.9 x 41 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975
Object Number: 1975.268.136
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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By Shibata Zeshin

In the same medium

From the same time and place

Case (Inrō) with a Fox from the Kyōgen Play The Fox Hunter (Tsurigitsune); Hunter behind Haystacks from the Kyōgen Play "Hakuzōsu" (reverse), Shibata Zeshin Japanese, Gold and silver maki-e with colored lacquer on black lacquer<br/>Ojime: gilded metal with fox-monk<br/>Netuske: Lacquer oval box with diamond floral design (signed Kiyoharu), Japan — Case (Inrō) with a Fox from the Kyōgen Play The Fox Hunter (Tsurigitsune); Hunter behind Haystacks from the Kyōgen Play "Hakuzōsu" (reverse)
Shibata Zeshin
19th century

Armor (<i>Gusoku</i>), Saotome Ietada Japanese, Iron, lacquer, silk, gilt copper, Japanese — Armor (*Gusoku*)
Armorer Helmet bowl signed Saotome Ietada
Armorer Breastplate inscribed inside, Myōchin Munesuke
16th and 18th centuries

Daishōjin Bosatsu, from “Album of Buddhist Deities from the Diamond World and Womb World Mandalas”, Takuma Tametō Japanese, Fragment of an album, mounted as a hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on paper, Japan — Daishōjin Bosatsu, from “Album of Buddhist Deities from the Diamond World and Womb World Mandalas”
Attributed to Takuma Tametō
12th century

Case (Inrō) with Design of Lotus (obverse); Lotus and Bird (reverse), Shibata Zeshin Japanese, Black lacquer with wood, shell, and glass inlays; Fastener (ojime): metal; Toggle (netsuke): carved ivory in the shape of a demon, Japan — Case (Inrō) with Design of Lotus (obverse); Lotus and Bird (reverse)
Shibata Zeshin
19th century

Shō, Bamboo wood, metal, Japanese — Shō
Japanese
19th century

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