The Tales of Ise
ArtistLineage of
Tosa School
(Japanese)
Datelate 17th-early 18th century
MediumPoem sheet (shikishi), ink, colors and gold on paper
DimensionsOverall: 9 1/4 × 6 15/16 inches (23.5 × 17.62 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number46-60/3
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionA man and his friends went looking for a place to live in the East. On the way, they came to Yatsuhashi or the "eight bridges" in Mikawa Province, and composed poems to their loved ones far away.ProvenanceTokyo art market, Japan, January 1946 [1];
Purchased on the Tokyo art market by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1946.
NOTES:
[1] Acquisition documents in the Nelson-Atkins files record that Curator of Asian Art Laurence Sickman purchased this object when he was stationed in Tokyo while serving with the U.S. Army’s Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives section after World War II.
The vendor is not named on purchasing documents. Sickman bought other objects in Tokyo in early 1946 from Michelangelo Piacentini (d. 2005), an Italian art historian based in that city who collected and dealt in Asian objects, so it is possible Piacentini was the source. This is not confirmed, however, and research in currently ongoing.
Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information,
is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete.
Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a
particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum.
If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image,
please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.
