2013.51: Standing Beauty in a Dance Pose

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2013.51

People

Unknown Artist
Traditionally attributed to Iwasa Matabei 岩佐又兵衛, Japanese (1578 - 1650 Edo)

Title

Standing Beauty in a Dance Pose

Classification

Paintings

Work Type

painting, hanging scroll

Date

mid 17th century

Places

Creation Place: East Asia, Japan

Period

Edo period, 1615-1868

Culture

Japanese

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/199995

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Dimensions

painting proper: H. 127.7 x W. 48 cm (50 1/4 x 18 7/8 in.)
mounting, including suspension cord and roller ends: H. 227 x W. 67.9 cm (89 3/8 x 26 3/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Louis V. Ledoux Collection, New York (by 1948), by descent; to his son L. Pierre Ledoux, New York (1948-2001), by inheritance; to his widow Joan F. Ledoux, New York, (2001-2013), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2013.

Footnotes:
1. Louis V. Ledoux (1880-1948)
2. L. Pierre Ledoux (1912-2001)
3. On long term loan to Harvard Art Museums from 1981 to 2013.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Louis V. Ledoux Collection; Gift of Mrs. L. Pierre Ledoux in memory of her husband

Accession Year

2013

Object Number

2013.51

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

This painting in vertical hanging scroll format depicts a beautiful woman wearing a black kimono embroidered with plum blossoms, maple leaves, and stylized Chinese characters, captured mid-step in a dancing position. She stands with knees bent to the viewer’s right, but with body and shoulders twisted back towards the viewers left, her head turned back behind her, her gaze focused to the left beyond the frame of the painting. Her right arm stretches outward behind her, allowing the fabric of her sleeve to fall open and reveal its designs, but her right hand remains concealed. Written in cursive script, the character for warbler (uguisu) appears among the plum blossoms on the sleeve. On the lower portion of her robe, the character for deer (shika) appears among the maple leaves. The beauty stands on a plain background, save for the fourteen character poem calligraphed at the top of the painting, and the signature and two seals near the upper left.

Publication History

• Julia Meech, "Louis V. Ledoux: Collector of Japanese Textiles", Impressions, Japanese Art Society of America (Lexington, 2022), No. 43: part one of double issue, pp. 99-128, pp. 107-108. fig. 7

Exhibition History

• Later Chinese and Japanese Figure Painting in Decorative Arts, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 02/22/1992 - 06/07/1992
• Women and the Arts of Asia, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/10/1994 - 03/05/1995
• Masterworks of Ukiyo-e, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 07/20/1996 - 01/12/1997
• Paragons of Wisdom and Virtue: East Asian Figure Painting, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 02/15/1997 - 09/21/1997

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