The Buddhist Deity Hotei Poling a Skiff with Children at Play

Original Language Title布袋と童子

Artist Kano Tan'yū (Japanese, 1602 - 1674)

Calligrapher Ten'yū Jōkō (Japanese, 1586 - 1666)

DateEdo period (1615-1868)

MediumHanging scroll; ink on paper

DimensionsOverall: 46 × 24 1/2 inches (116.84 × 62.23 cm)

Credit LineGift of Josephine Foote in memory of her parents, Dr. Nicholas and Eva Ann Pickard

Object number2008.31

SignedPainter's signature on the lower right of the painting

InscribedOn the lower right, and on the left of the painting

On View

Not on view

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionThe painting is executed in ink monochrome on paper and mounted in a hanging scroll. The figural image is sketchedly done on the right half of the horizontal composition. The image shows Hotei, the popular Buddhist figure, polling a skiff while two other small kids sit with him. A poem, which is written by a different person, is inscribed on the left half of the painting. The painter's signature appears on the lower right and two seals of the poet are impressed at the end of the poem on the lower left. The painting is sandwiched by two layers of beige embroidery, and all are framed by dark blue brocade. Two "wind strips" are mounted on top of the scroll.Provenance

Provenance

Possibly Mathew Vladimir Pickard [1];

Possibly by descent to his son, Dr. Nicholas S. Pickard (1910-1993), Mission Hills, KS, 1968-1993 [2];

His bequest to his daughter, Josephine (née Pickard) Foote, Cambridge, MA, 1993-2008 [3];

Her gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2008.

NOTES:

[1] According to Josephine Foote, her grandfather Mathew Vladimir Pickard may have acquired this painting when he lived in Japan, 1939-1940.

[2] Dr. Nicholas S. Pickard was an orthopedic surgeon who served as a trustee for the Nelson-Atkins and was active in the museum’s membership groups.

[3] The painting remained in the possession of Dr. Pickard’s wife, Eva Ann McCluskey Pickard (1914-2008), per the provision of his bequest, until her death in 2008.

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