Fans Floating in Waves

Original Language Title扇面流図屏風

CultureJapanese

DateMomoyama period (1573-1615)

MediumSix-fold screen; ink and color over gold-foil ground on paper

DimensionsOverall: 66 3/4 × 150 inches (169.55 × 381 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number69-20

On View

Not on view

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionOne of a pair of six-fold screensGallery Label

Gallery Label

This scene of painted fans floating in waves alludes to popular legends and literature in Japan. In The Tale of Genji, a novel from the early 1000s popular among the elite classes, the nobility send romantic poems to one another on folding fans. Floating fans are also associated with a legend of a traveling shogun (ruler) who accidently dropped a folding fan into a river on a bridge in Kyoto. The scene so captivated bystanders that everyone threw their fans into the waters and watched them float away.

Provenance

Purchase –

With Gump’s, San Francisco, by 1969;

Purchased from Gump’s by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1969.

Published References

Ross E. Taggart, George L. McKenna, and Marc F. Wilson, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. II, Art of the Orient. (Kansas City, MO: The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973) 104, (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993) 360, (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008) 389, no.33, (repro.).

The Nelson Gallery & Atkins Museum, “Recent Acquisitions” in The Nelson Gallery & Atkins Museum Bulletin, vol. IV, no.12 (May, 1971): 32-33, fig. 16, (repro.).

Asia Society, Archives of Asian Art, vol. xxiv (1970-1971): 95-96, fig. 31, (repro.).

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.