Description
This painting shows a woman playing a koto, a type of stringed instrument; a pair playing a board game called Go; a man deep in a book; and a boy painting an image of flowers. The group of fashionably dressed figures is set in and around a cozy residence, their poses conveying a sense of carefree pleasure. The scene is a playful response to a theme derived from Chinese culture that presents four notable pastimes of well-educated people.
Provenance
(Setsu, Tokyo, Japan, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin Smith); The Kelvin Smith Collection, Cleveland, OH, given by Mrs. Kelvin [Eleanor Armstrong] Smith [1899–1998] to the Cleveland Museum of Art (?–1985); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1985–)
Accession Number
1985.269
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on paper
Dimensions
Image: 115.9 x 51.3 cm (45 5/8 x 20 3/16 in.); Overall: 211.1 x 64 cm (83 1/8 x 25 3/16 in.); with knobs: 211.1 x 69.6 cm (83 1/8 x 27 3/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith
Tags
Painting Baroque (1600–1750) Ink Gold Leaf Paper Japanese Color: Orange Color: Gold
Background & Context
Background Story
Iwasa Matabei (1578-1650) was a Japanese painter known for the combination of Tosa-style court painting with Kanoelements that makes him one of the most important painters of the early Edo period. The Four Accomplishments from c. 1620-50 depicts the traditional Chinese subject of the four accomplishments—painting, calligraphy, music, and chess (go)—in the refined manner that distinguishes Matabei's best work from the more orthodox painting of his contemporaries. Matabei is traditionally credited as the founder of the Ukiyo-e painting tradition, and this work shows the courtly refinement that distinguishes his work from the more popular ukiyo-e prints that followed.
Cultural Impact
The Four Accomplishments is important in the history of Japanese painting because it demonstrates the refined manner that Matabei brought to the traditional Chinese subject as the traditionally credited founder of the Ukiyo-e painting tradition. Matabei's combination of Tosa court refinement with broader subject matter represents an important transition in Japanese painting from the courtly to the popular tradition, and The Four Accomplishments shows this transition at its most refined.
Why It Matters
The Four Accomplishments is Matabei's refined early Ukiyo-e: the traditional Chinese subject of painting, calligraphy, music, and chess rendered in the courtly manner of the traditionally credited founder of the Ukiyo-e painting tradition. The c. 1620-50 painting shows the refinement that distinguishes early ukiyo-e painting from the popular prints that followed.
