Scenes from Essays in Idleness
late 1700s–early 1800s
Medium
One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
170.2 × 375.8 cm · image: 146.5 × 330.7 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
Accession Number
1971.43.2
Tags
About this artwork
Matsumura Goshun inscribed passages from Buddhist monk Yoshida Kenkō’s (1283–1350) well-known collection of anecdotes, Essays in Idleness, across the top of the panels of this screen and its pair. Goshun illustrated the narratives with his vision of the figures who feature in them. The texts cascade down from right to left, forming unique compositional relationships with the images below. The episodes offer a veritable portrait of human idiosyncrasy, from one man’s deep faith in radishes to anot...