Images

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=831C1F4D8CE3B2408DF12168363C3D86C61B688B91CF0B4B0BAA2E3BCCEE00B4&s=24247294&se=660556204&v=1&f=%5Cd2627%5Cu216526272%5C1958.289_o2.jpg

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=7B7D9302E677602552ECC409F2BD04781071D608748075546670AF48A1A53E40&s=24247294&se=660556204&v=1&f=%5Cd2527%5Cu216625276%5C1958.289det01_o2.jpg

Additional Views

May 26, 2009

The Bird's Nest Patriarch

鳥窠道林禅師像

early to mid-1600s

Tawaraya Sōtatsu 俵屋宗達

(Japanese, c. 1570-c. 1640)

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Hanging scroll; ink on paper

Image: 95.8 x 38.7 cm (37 11/16 x 15 1/4 in.); Overall: 187.3 x 50.8 cm (73 3/4 x 20 in.)

Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 1958.289

Location

not on view

Did you know?

This painting is based on the 1602 illustrated publication Marvelous Traces of Immortals and Buddhas (Chinese: Xianfo qizong).

Description

Tawaraya Sōtatsu’s painting was inspired by a 1602 Chinese book that featured images of legendary Chinese Buddhist experts and Daoist sages. The monk portrayed here is Niaoge, which literally means “Bird’s Nest.” He was a Zen practitioner who favored the isolation of treetops, from which he offered advice to the perplexed. The posture of the single figure suggests a dialogue with someone below. Sōtatsu was a master of the “boneless” (mokkotsu), or un-outlined, style of ink painting that relies on layered pools of ink wash for effect.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed at the lower left of the scroll and sealed "Inen" in red circular form.

Provenance

?–1958

(Mathias Komor [1909–1984], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1958–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Lee, Sherman E. Japanese Decorative Style. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961. Mentioned: p. 64; Reproduced: p. 65; cat. no. 63 archive.org

Asia Society, and Sherman E. Lee. Tea Taste in Japanese Art. [New York]: [dist. by H. Abrams], 1963. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 53, p. 106

Masterpieces of Japanese Art; [Catalogue of the Exhibition] October 4 Through November 30, 1969, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1969. Reproduced: pl. 52

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 382 archive.org

Tōyō kaiga no seika: tokubetsuten: Kurīvurando Bijutsukan no korekushon kara [東洋絵画の精華 : 特别展 : クリーヴラント美術館のコレクションから = Highlights of Asian painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art]. Japan: Nara National Museum, 1998. Reproduced: no. 12.87, p. 569

Lippit, Yukio. "Making Waves: Tawaraya Sotatsu at the Freer and Sackler Galleries." Orientations 46, no. 7 (October 2015): 68–77. Reproduced: p. 72, fig. 4

Lippit, Yukio, James T. Ulak, Keiko Nakamachi, Shunroku Okudaira, Ryō Furuta, Takeshi Noguchi, and Aya Ōta. Sōtatsu. Washington, DC : Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2015. Reproduced: cat. no. 36, p. 260

Exhibition history

Tea taste in Japanese art. Asia House Gallery, New York, NY (1963).

Masterpieces of Japanese Art. Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas (October 4-November 30, 1969).

Japanese Decorative Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art (August 30-October 15, 1961); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (November 9-December 17, 1961).

Tea Taste in Japanese Art. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (February 20-April 21, 1963).

Rimpa. Japan Society Gallery, New York, NY (organizer) (September 13-November 13, 1971).

Rin-pa. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (October 10-December 3, 1972).

Rimpa Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 19-December 17, 1989).

Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Nara National Museum (organizer) (February 21-March 29, 1998); Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998).

Rimpa. The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (August 21-October 3, 2004).

Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009).

Sotatsu: Making Waves. National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (October 24, 2015-January 31, 2016).

Early Rinpa (Japanese gallery rotation) 235. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 23, 2020-January 17, 2021).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=The Bird's Nest Patriarch|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1958.289|author=Tawaraya Sōtatsu|year=early to mid-1600s|access-date=11 December 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email [email protected].

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.

You are here:

Images

The Bird's Nest Patriarch

The Bird's Nest Patriarch

鳥窠道林禅師像

Tawaraya Sōtatsu 俵屋宗達

Location

Download and Share

Did you know?

Description

Inscription

Contact us