Snipe Over a Marsh from the <em>Three Dusks</em>
date: label: Date
content: 1665
label: Period
content: Edo period
name: label: Artist
content: Kano Tan'yu 狩野探幽 (1602-1674)
notes: label: Label
content: The "Three Dusks" or "Three Evening Poems" is a famous group of three poems by three different authors. The poems are recorded in the imperial poetry anthology Shin kokinshu, compiled in the early thirteenth century. The poem below, composed by the Buddhist monk Saigyo (1118-1190), is inscribed on this painting by Kano Tan'yu, one of the leading artists of the seventeenth century.
label: Label
content: While denying his heart,
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content: Even a priest must feel his body knows
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content: The depth of a sad beauty:
label: Label
content: From a marsh at autumn twilight
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content: Snipes that rise and wing away.
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content: Using only the palest tones of ink and tints of translucent color, Tan'yu has created a subtle and indefinite pictorial image that echoes the mood of the poem. The refined and elegant calligraphy of the inscription is attributed to Imperial Prince Ryosho (1622-1693), who became a Buddhist monk in 1634.
label: Label
content: Translation by Robert H. Brower and Earl Miner, Japanese Court Poetry (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961)
label: Provenance
content: To 1904
label: Provenance
content: Michael Tomkinson (1841-1921), Kidderminster, England, to 1904 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1904 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Michael Tomkinson in 1904 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Kakemono Reserved List, R. 397, pg. 10, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [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.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: More Than Flowers: Sources of Tradition in Japanese Painting (September 2, 2001 to November 24, 2002)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler & Japan (May 14, 1995 to January 1, 1996)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art (May 9, 1993 to August 1, 1994)
label: Exhibition History
content: Autumn Colors (October 19 to December 20, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Ceramics from Past to Present (February 18, 1983 to February 16, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: Studies in Connoisseurship 1923-1983 (September 23, 1983 to March 1, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art—Autumn Voices (October 14, 1981 to December 16, 1981)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Michael Tomkinson (1841-1921) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: Edo period (1615 - 1868)
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: kakemono
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: snipe
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1904.372
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ink and color on silk
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 30.5 × 44.9 cm (12 × 17 11/16 in)