Scenes from Essays in Idleness
Matsumura Goshun · late 1700s–early 1800s · Cleveland Museum of Art
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From the museum
Matsumura Goshun inscribed passages from Buddhist monk Yoshida Kenkō’s (about 1283–about 1350/52) well-known collection of anecdotes, Essays in Idleness, across the top of each of the 12 panels of these screens. Goshun illustrated the episodes 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. In books, writing typically appears in uniform rectangles; here, the texts take on shapes that complement the corresponding paintings.
The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC0
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Details
- Maker
- Matsumura Goshun (Japanese, 1752–1811)
- Date
- late 1700s–early 1800s
- Medium
- One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 146.5 x 330.7 cm (57 11/16 x 130 3/16 in.); Overall: 170.2 x 375.8 cm (67 x 147 15/16 in.)
- Place of origin
- Japan
- Held by
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · Not on view
- Credit line
- Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
Image: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0
More by Matsumura Goshun
Shown in
- “Bunjin” in Japanese ArtJun 21, 2026 – Jun 20, 2027
- Stories in Japanese ArtOct 8, 2021 – Apr 3, 2022
- Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of ArtJul 15, 2001 – Sep 16, 2001
- Byobu: The Art of the Japanese ScreenDec 8, 1987 – Jan 10, 1988
- Japanese Screens from the Museum and Cleveland CollectionsMar 23, 1977 – May 8, 1977
