Harvard Art Museums > 2010.553: Poem on Plum Blossoms Paintings Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Poem on Plum Blossoms (Takabatake Shikibu) , 2010.553,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, May 16, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/337011. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2010.553 People Takabatake Shikibu (1785-1881) Title Poem on Plum Blossoms Classification Paintings Work Type hanging scroll, painting Date mid- to late 19th century Places Creation Place: East Asia, Japan Period Edo period, Late to early Meiji period Culture Japanese Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/337011 Physical Descriptions Medium "Shikishi" album leaf (poem card) mounted as a hanging scroll; ink on paper; with signature of the artist Dimensions calligraphy proper: 16.4 x 12.7 cm (6 7/16 x 5 in.) with mounting, suspension cord and roller ends: 129.7 x 34.2 cm (51 1/16 x 13 7/16 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History [through ?, Tokyo, 1960s], sold; to Charles Craig, Jr., Santa Barbara, CA (1960s-2004), sold; to Stuart and Beverly Denenberg, Los Angeles (2004-2010), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2010. NOTE: The text on a sticker attached to one roller end reads "K889"; the significance of this number remains unknown, but it possibly is the collection, or inventory, number of a previous owner. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Stuart and Beverly Denenberg in loving memory of Konrad Oberhuber Accession Year 2010 Object Number 2010.553 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description The text inscribed on this album leaf is a poem on plum blossoms; the poem is inscribed in seven columns, the columns varying in placement, in numbers of characters, and thus in length. The text is written in a combination of Chinese characters, or "kanji", and native Japanese script, or "hiragana". Inscribed by Takabatake Shikibu (1785-1881), the poem is written in script that alternates between cursive, or running, script (Chinese, "xingshu") and draft script (Chinese, "caoshu"). Though not dated, this calligraphic work bears a signature of the artist in the lower right corner--i.e., the second column of text from the right is the artist's signature. The poem is inscribed on an album leaf of a type known in Japanese as a "shikishi", or poem card. At some point the "shikishi" album leaf was mounted as a hanging scroll, the form in which it appears today. In the present mounting, the album leaf appears just below the center of a long stretch of buff mounting paper, which is bordered top and bottom by a strip of white mounting silk with brocaded designs woven in gold; above and below the gold-on-white strips and along the sides of the buff paper is dark green mounting silk subtly embellished with a woven pattern; at the top and bottom of the scroll appear longer sections of plain, medium brown mounting silk, the slightly longer top section articulated with affixed (i.e., mounted in place) "futai" streamers. Verification Level This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
