Object Details
Culture
Japan
Medium
Hanging scroll: ink on silk
Dimensions
Overall: 82 × 29 inches (208.3 × 73.7 cm)
Image: 40 5/8 × 20 7/8 inches (103.2 × 53 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired through the Museum Associates Purchase Fund
Object
Number
62.3255 b
Tao Yuanming (365–427) was a Chinese poet and recluse who had long been recognized and admired in (…)
Tao Yuanming (365–427) was a Chinese poet and recluse who had long been recognized and admired in Japan, especially among Zen priests. Literary subjects such as “The Homecoming of Tao Yuanyuan,” “Tao Yuanming Admiring Chrysanthemums,” and “Drunken Tao Yuanming” had been widely depicted by Japanese painters since the fifteenth century. This painting is one of a pair of paintings that was displayed flanking a painting of the White-Robed Kannon in a Japanese temple. The scene shown here is based on Tao’s well-known poem, Drunk V: Within the world of men I make my home, Yet din of horse and carriage there is none You ask me how this quiet is achievedWith thoughts remote, the place appears alone. While picking asters ‘neath the Eastern fenceMy gaze upon the Southern mountain rests The mountain views are good by day or nightThe birds come flying homeward to their nests.A truth in this reflection lies concealed But I forget how it may be revealed.(“Tradition, Transmission, and Transformation in East Asian Art,” curated by Cornell PhD student Yuhua Ding under the supervision of Ellen Avril and presented at the Johnson Museum January 23-June 12, 2016)
