Two Sample Letters on the Chinese Lantern Festival and a Poem about Plum Blossoms

Calligraphy by Kojima Sōshin Japanese

1657

Not on view

This handscroll by the Kyoto calligrapher Kojima Sōshin begins with passages from letter templates ushering in the Lantern Festival, which marked the end of the New Year’s celebrations on the fifteenth day of the first month. The scroll concludes with a Chinese poem about plum blossoms. Sōshin’s blending of bold and thin characters, on lavishly decorated paper, creates a sense of festivity.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

References

小島宗貞筆　「元宵」尺牘二首・「梅」七言絶句一首
Title: Two Sample Letters on the Chinese Lantern Festival and a Poem about Plum Blossoms
Artist: Calligraphy by Kojima Sōshin (Japanese, 1580–ca. 1656)
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: 1657
Culture: Japan
Medium: Handscroll: ink on decorated paper
Dimensions: Image: 10 7/8 in. × 13 ft. 5/16 in. (27.6 × 397 cm)
Overall with mounting: 10 7/8 in. × 13 ft. 11 11/16 in. (27.6 × 426 cm)
Overall with knobs: 11 1/2 in. × 13 ft. 11 11/16 in. (29.2 × 426 cm)
Classification: Calligraphy
Credit Line: Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2020
Object Number: 2020.396.21
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Chinese Couplet by Bai Juyi and Waka by Fujiwara no Toshiyuki (partial) from “Japanese and Chinese Poems to Sing” (Wakan rōeishū), Konoe Sakihisa 近衛前久 Japanese, Handscroll section mounted as hanging scroll; ink on dyed and decorated paper, Japan — Chinese Couplet by Bai Juyi and Waka by Fujiwara no Toshiyuki (partial) from “Japanese and Chinese Poems to Sing” (Wakan rōeishū)
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