Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals

mid 1700s

Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, mid 1700s. Attributed to Tatebayashi Kagei (Japanese, active mid-1700s). Two-fold screen; ink, color, and gold on paper; image: 170 x 182.8 cm (66 15/16 x 71 15/16 in.); overall: 174.4 x 187.2 cm (68 11/16 x 73 11/16 in.); closed: 94 x 4 cm (37 x 1 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1960.183 Fujiwara no Kintō (996–1075), a Japanese courtier, scholar, and poet, compiled select examples by the most celebrated composers of 31-syllable poems (waka) from the 600s to the 1000s. Painters soon made these “thirty-six poetic immortals” a favorite subject, traditionally presenting the poets in sequential, idealized portraits paired with their poems. In this interpretation, a chronologically impossible gathering of these great talents is in progress. The screen’s composition follows one devised by design virtuoso Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716). The green surface edged with stripes at the upper left of the painting represents tatami matting with a silk border.