Irises
Medium
One of a pair of six-panel folding screens, ink and color on gilded paper
Dimensions
166.7 × 372.6 cm · painting: 154.4 × 360.4 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of The Norweb Foundation
Accession Number
1954.603.1
Tags
About this artwork
The subject of this painting comes from a 10th-century text. It tells of a young nobleman’s journey into the lonely countryside, far from the capital city of Heian-kyō (Kyoto). There he came upon a small stream, the banks of which were covered with blooming irises, on which the artist has chosen to focus our attention. While viewing the beautiful flowers the nobleman composed a poem: I have a beloved wife, Familiar as the skirt of a well-worn robe, And so this distant journeying Fills my heart w...