id: 153229 accession number: 1986.2 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1986.2 updated: 2022-06-15 09:00:45.907000 Peafowl and Phoenixes, late 1500s. Attributed to Tosa Mitsuyoshi (Japanese, 1539-1613). Pair of six-panel screens; ink, color, and gold on gilded paper; overall: 173.1 x 374.4 cm (68 1/8 x 147 3/8 in.); overall: 175.9 x 377.2 cm (69 1/4 x 148 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1986.2 title: Peafowl and Phoenixes title in original language: 孔雀鳳凰図屏風 series: series in original language: creation date: late 1500s creation date earliest: 1580 creation date latest: 1599 current location: creditline: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund copyright: --- culture: Japan, Momoyama period (1573-1615) technique: Pair of six-panel screens; ink, color, and gold on gilded paper department: Japanese Art collection: ASIAN - Folding screen type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Tosa Mitsuyoshi (Japanese, 1539-1613) - artist --- measurements: Overall: 173.1 x 374.4 cm (68 1/8 x 147 3/8 in.); Overall: 175.9 x 377.2 cm (69 1/4 x 148 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review for 1986 opening date: 1987-02-04T05:00:00 Year in Review for 1986. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-March 15, 1987). title: Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen opening date: 1987-12-08T05:00:00 Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1987-January 10, 1988). title: Autumn Grasses: Arts of the Momoyama Period (1573-1615) opening date: 1988-10-04T04:00:00 Autumn Grasses: Arts of the Momoyama Period (1573-1615). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4-December 11, 1988). title: The Triumph of Japanese Style: 16th Century Art in Japan opening date: 1991-10-19T04:00:00 The Triumph of Japanese Style: 16th Century Art in Japan. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 19-December 1, 1991). title: Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2001-07-15T00:00:00 Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 15-September 16, 2001). title: Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation - January-July 2017 opening date: 2017-01-09T05:00:00 Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation - January-July 2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art (January 9-July 10, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * The Cleveland Museum of Art, Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 121); July 13 - November 10, 2004. --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: Members of the Tosa studio of painters once served as heads of the imperial painting bureau. digital description: Phoenixes are fantastical birds said to inhabit paulownia trees and eat bamboo, and to celebrate virtuous rulers. Peafowl are birds that amuse themselves in the lake of the Buddha Amida’s Pure Land, a paradise where many once hoped to find themselves after death. Both birds appeared on Japanese textiles or paintings in the 1500s and 1600s, used in official ceremonies centered around emperors. wall description: In this extraordinary pair of screens, pairs of peafowl and phoenixes stand among bamboo and paulownia trees. Phoenixes are fantastical birds said to inhabit paulownia trees and eat bamboo, and to celebrate virtuous rulers. The birds are represented in Japanese art from as early as the Kofun period (about AD 300–710), and their depiction with paulownia trees becomes standard in the decorative arts of the Heian period (794–1185). Peafowl are birds that amuse themselves in the lake of the Buddha Amida’s Pure Land, a paradise where many once hoped to find themselves after death. Both birds appeared on textiles or paintings in the 1500s and 1600s, used in official ceremonies centered around emperors. These screens are attributed to painter Tosa Mitsuyoshi based on their style. Mitsuyoshi is best known for his album leaf paintings of The Tale of Genji. This is the only large-scale bird-and-flower composition in his style to survive. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cunningham, Michael R. The Triumph of Japanese Style: 16th-Century Art in Japan. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with the Indiana University Press, 1991. page number: Reproduced: pp. 30-31 url: Cunningham, Michael R. Masterworks of Asian art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. page number: Reproduced: p. 208 - 211 url: Cleveland Museum of Art, and Michael R. Cunningham. Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. page number: Reproduced: pp. 20-21 url: Longhi, Leighton R. Leighton R. Longhi: Forty-Five Years in Asian Art. [New York, N.Y.]: Leighton R. Longhi, 2019. page number: Reproduced: p. 86-87, fig. 68 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1986.2/1986.2_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1986.2/1986.2_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1986.2/1986.2_full.tif