Selections from the New Collection of Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern Times (Shinkokin wakashū) with Printed Designs of Chinese Lions and Crab Finger Grass

early 1600s

Selections from the New Collection of Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern Times (Shinkokin wakashū) with Printed Designs of Chinese Lions and Crab Finger Grass, early 1600s. Hon'ami Kōetsu (Japanese, 1558–1637), Tawaraya Sōtatsu (Japanese, c. 1570-c. 1640). Handscroll; ink, gold, and silver on paper; overall: 23.2 x 346.6 cm (9 1/8 x 136 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1966.118 Hon’ami Kōetsu was a calligrapher and craftsman who frequently collaborated with the painter Tawaraya Sōtatsu, considered the first master of the Rinpa school. Kōetsu brushed seven poems from the autumn section of a poetry anthology onto dyed paper with motifs designed and printed in gold and silver by Sōtatsu. Before becoming a master painter of screens, Tawaraya Sōtatsu painted fans.