Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu, One of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets
Overall (without knobs): 47 1/2 × 16 5/8 inches (120.65 × 42.24 cm)
Image: 11 3/16 × 12 3/4 inches (28.42 × 32.39 cm)
Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu (921–991 C.E.) was one of thirty-six poets celebrated since the Heian period (794–1185) for their exemplary work. Prince Shonjun, a Kyoto aristocrat acquainted with the painter Iwasa Matabei, wrote Yoshinobu’s poem on this portrait:
The pine, by legend,
Is limited to a lifetime of a hundred years.
But under your benign influence
Will it perhaps last as long as ten thousand?
With Takeuchi Ryūji, by 1973;
With Mathias Komor, New York, no. E437, by December 18, 1973-February 28, 1974;
Purchased from Komor by Karen Dean Bunting (1912-1981), Mission Hills, KS, February 28, 1974-1981 [1];
Her bequest to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1981.
NOTES:
[1] Komor’s invoice and correspondence with Bunting are in the Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.
