Object Details
- Label
- Few works of Chinese literature have so enthralled the Japanese people as The Song of Everlasting Sorrow, a narrative poem by the Chinese poet Bo Juyi (772-846) of the Tang dynasty (618-907). The poem recounts the tragic story of Emperor Xuanzong (reigned 712-756), commonly known as Minghuang, whose excessive love for his beautiful concubine, Yang Guifei (circa 720-756), led to intrigue at court and disorder in the empire. Yang Guifei was put to death in 756 during the An Lushan uprising. The passionate love and inconsolable grief portrayed in the Chinese poem found a sympathetic reception in the Japanese imperial court of the Heian period (794-1185), where the emotional entanglements of Japanese aristocrats became the theme of The Tale of Genji, an important work of narrative fiction written by a noblewoman, Murasaki Shikibu.
- Many Japanese screen paintings of the Momoyama (1573-1615) and early Edo (1615-1868) periods illustrate the story of Minghuang and Yang Guifei with elegant figures in settings that represent an imaginative and idealized image of the Chinese emperor's household. Here the emperor and his beloved Yang Guifei stand in an open pavilion facing a garden where ladies-in-waiting pull threads attached to the branches of flowering trees. The enduring allure of this story in the Japanese visual and literary arts reflects both a strong emotional identification with its themes of love, death, and longing, and the persistent idea of Tang dynasty China as a cultural golden age.
- Provenance
- To 1900
- Yamanaka & Company, to 1900 [1]
- From 1900 to 1919
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company in 1900 [2]
- From 1920
- Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
- Notes:
- [1] Undated folder sheet note. See Original Screen List, L. 34, pg. 6, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. The majority of Charles Lang Freer’s purchases from Yamanaka & Company were made at its New York branch. Yamanaka & Company maintained branch offices, at various times, in Boston, Chicago, London, Peking, Shanghai, Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto. During the summer, the company also maintained seasonal locations in Newport, Bar Harbor, and Atlantic City.
- [2] See note 1.
- [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
- Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art Collection
- Exhibition History
- The Idea of China in Japan: The Tea Ceremony in Japan (December 19, 1999 to June 11, 2000)
- Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Screens (October 3, 1947 to November 10, 1955)
- Untitled Exhibition, Japanese Screens and Scrolls, 1946 (April 30, 1946 to October 3, 1947)
- Japanese Screens, 1923 (May 2, 1923 to April 5, 1933)
- Previous custodian or owner
- Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
- Data Source
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Artist
- Kano Eitoku 狩野永徳 (1543-1590)
- Date
- 16th century
- Period
- Muromachi or Momoyama period
- Credit Line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- Medium
- Ink, color, and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W: 156.7 x 360.6 cm (61 11/16 x 141 15/16 in)
- Type
- Painting
