Dragon

Artist Ogata Kōrin (Japanese, 1658 - 1716)

DateEdo period (1615-1868)

MediumHanging scroll; ink on paper (orientation: left in pair)

DimensionsImage: 42 × 14 3/4 inches (106.68 × 37.47 cm)
Mount: 70 3/4 × 19 5/8 inches (179.71 × 49.86 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. George H. Bunting Jr. in memory of her father, Olen G. Bitler

Object number75-58/2

On View

Not on view

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

Exhibition History

Kōrin, Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, Japan, May 25-30, 1965; Mitsukoshi, Osaka, Japan, June 5-10, 1965, p.40.

Gallery Label

According to a Chinese proverb: "Clouds emerge when dragons sing, and wind arises when tigers roar," pointing to dragons' and tigers' power over the human realm. Japanese people adopted this Chinese theory describing the natural order of the universe. Dragons and tigers represent the balancing energy of yin and yang, and people in East Asia, including Japan, believe creatures bring rain that provides the earth with an essential lifeline.

Provenance

Mr. Hiromi of Mikage, The middle of the Meiji period – 1945;

Private Collection, 1945- November 3^rd, 1955;

With the Yamanaka & Company, Inc., November 3^rd, 1955-1965;

Mr. Olen Bitler (1888- 1945), 1965-October 1975;

With Mrs. George H. Bunting Jr., Shawnee Mission, by December 12, 1975;

Her gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1975.

Published References

Mistsukoshi, Kōrin, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shimbun-shapp), 40.

H.P. Stern, Rimpa: Masterpieces of the Japanese Decorative School (New York: Japan Society, 1971), pl.19.

The Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Bulletin, vol. 5 (Kansas City: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Feb. 1971), no. 3.

Kobayashi Tadashi, ed. Rimpa Painting (Kyoto: Shikosha, 1991), vol. 3, Landscapes, Birds and Animals, pl. 191.

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