These small paintings, each inscribed with two poems, were separated from a group of twelve representing plants and animals that are symbolic of the months of the year. For the sixth month the poems celebrate tokonatsu (wild pinks) and the cormorant, a bird used for night fishing, a familiar sight on the waterways of Kyoto where iron fire baskets were suspended from the prows of fishing boats. The poems read:
Even though most people dread the sixth month since the sun is so bright, if wild pinks are in bloom then it does have its charms. On these short nights, flames in iron baskets on cormorant fishing boats pass by quickly and light up the sky of the sixth month. Even though most people dread the sixth month since the sun is so bright, if wild pinks are in bloom then it does have its charms.
On these short nights, flames in iron baskets on cormorant fishing boats pass by quickly and light up the sky of the sixth month.
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尾形乾山筆 定家詠十二ヶ月和歌 花鳥図 『拾遺愚草』 より六月
Title:“Sixth Month” from Fujiwara no Teika’s “Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months”
Artist:Ogata Kenzan (Japanese, 1663–1743)
Period:Edo period (1615–1868)
Date:1743
Culture:Japan
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions:Image: 6 1/4 x 9 1/8 in. (15.9 x 23.2 cm) Overall with mounting: 43 1/4 x 19 in. (109.9 x 48.3 cm) Overall with knobs: 43 1/4 x 20 5/8 in. (109.9 x 52.4 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:1975.268.66
Signature: Seal: Tōzen
[ Harry G. C. Packard American, Tokyo, until 1975; donated and sold to MMA].
New York. Japan Society Gallery. "Japanese Calligraphy from Western Collections," October 4, 1984–January 6, 1985.
Kansas City. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. "Japanese Calligraphy from Western Collections," February 15, 1985–March 31, 1985.
Seattle Art Museum. "Japanese Calligraphy from Western Collections," May 9, 1985–July 14, 1985.
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Word in Flower: The Visualization of Classical Literature in 17th Century Japan," September 22, 1989–November 12, 1989.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Kyūbi no Kitsune: Legends of the Nine-Tailed Fox," 1994.
Chiba City Museum of Art. "Celebrated Four Seasons: An Aspect of Japanese Paintings from the 16th to 19th Centuries," April 27, 1996–June 9, 1996.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Blossoms of Many Colors: A Selection from the Permanent Collection of Japanese Art," March 21–August 9, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Enlightening Pursuits," February 28–August 5, 2001.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Sense of Place: Landscape in Japanese Art," May 8–September 8, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Birds, Flowers, and Buddhist Paradise Imagery in Japanese Art," February 14–June 13, 2004.
Shigariki. Miho Museum. "Kenzan: A World of Quietly Refined Elegance," September 1, 2004–December 15, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Sensitivity to the Seasons: Spring and Summer," December 17, 2005–June 4, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Flowing Streams: Scenes from Japanese Arts and Life," December 21, 2006–June 3, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Five Thousand Years of Japanese Art: Treasures from the Packard Collection," December 17, 2009–June 10, 2010.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Designing Nature: The Rinpa Aesthetic in Japanese Art," May 26, 2012–January 13, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Discovering Japanese Art: American Collectors and the Met," February 14 - September 27, 2015.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Kyoto: Capital of Artistic Imagination," July 24, 2019–January 31, 2021.
Tokyo Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūjo 東京国立文化財研究所, ed. Nyūyōku Metoroporitan Bijutsukan, kaiga, chōkoku ニューヨークメトロポリタン美術館，絵画・彫刻 (Painting and sculpture of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) Kaigai shozai Nihon bijutsuhin chōsa hōkoku 海外所在日本美術品調查報告 (Catalogue of Japanese art in foreign collections) 1. Tokyo: Kobunkazai Kagaku Kenkyūkai, 1991, p. 99, cat. no. 296.2.
Carpenter, John T. Designing Nature: The Rinpa Aesthetic in Japanese Art. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012, p. 139, cat. no. 55.
Carpenter, John T. The Poetry of Nature: Edo Paintings from the Fishbein-Bender Collection. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018, p. 37, fig. 6.
In the Style of Ogata Kenzan (Japanese, 1663–1743)
dated 1741
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