Flowering Cherry and Autumn Maple with Poem Slips
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.These screens capture the two quintessential outdoor settings for poetry composition in the Japanese literary tradition: cherry trees in full bloom in spring and autumn maples at the peak of crimson brightness. There are no figures depicted in this painting—a device called “motif of absence” (rusu moyō), which allows viewers to imagine themselves in the painted setting.
Poem slips (tanzaku) hang from the trees. The poems brushed on them allude to various famous sites to view either cherry blossoms or maples, including Mount Yoshino, south of Nara, famous for cherry blossoms, and Tatsuta River, in northwest Nara, famous for maples.
The appearance of actual poem slips is painstakingly replicated. The calligraphy represents court styles of the day, and the deluxe paper decoration is carefully executed. The poem slips are embellished with thin-cut gold leaf and gold foil, and sport motifs of autumn grasses, pine, horsetails, waves, and shells, to name a few. Thirty poems, some partially hidden, appear on the poem slips; all are from imperially commissioned poetry anthologies of ancient times.
Poem slips (tanzaku) hang from the trees. The poems brushed on them allude to various famous sites to view either cherry blossoms or maples, including Mount Yoshino, south of Nara, famous for cherry blossoms, and Tatsuta River, in northwest Nara, famous for maples.
The appearance of actual poem slips is painstakingly replicated. The calligraphy represents court styles of the day, and the deluxe paper decoration is carefully executed. The poem slips are embellished with thin-cut gold leaf and gold foil, and sport motifs of autumn grasses, pine, horsetails, waves, and shells, to name a few. Thirty poems, some partially hidden, appear on the poem slips; all are from imperially commissioned poetry anthologies of ancient times.
Artwork Details
- 桜樹と楓に短冊図屏風
- Title: Flowering Cherry and Autumn Maple with Poem Slips
- Artist: Unidentified artist
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: mid- 17th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gold, and silver on paper
- Dimensions: Image (each): 62 × 110 1/2 in. (157.5 × 280.7 cm)
- Classification: Screens
- Credit Line: Lent by Peggy and Richard M. Danziger
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art