The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

The Bird's Nest Patriarch

The Bird's Nest Patriarch

early to mid-1600s
(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.
  • ?–1958
    (Mathias Komor [1909–1984], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1958–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • “Annual Report of the Year 1958.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 46, no. 6 (June 1959): 111–158. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 117, 129-131 www.jstor.org
    S. E. L. “Year in Review.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 46, no. 10 (December 1959): 210–231. Reproduced: p. 226 www.jstor.org
    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
  • Early Rinpa (Japanese gallery rotation) 235. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 23, 2020-January 17, 2021).
    Sotatsu: Making Waves. National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (October 24, 2015-January 31, 2016).
    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).
    Rimpa. The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (August 21-October 3, 2004).
    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 Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 19-December 17, 1989).
    Rin-pa. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (October 10-December 3, 1972).
    Rimpa. Japan Society Gallery, New York, NY (organizer) (September 13-November 13, 1971).
    Masterpieces of Japanese Art. Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas (October 4-November 30, 1969).
    Tea Taste in Japanese Art. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (February 20-April 21, 1963).
    Tea taste in Japanese art. Asia House Gallery, New York, NY (1963).
    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).
  • {{cite web|title=The Bird's Nest Patriarch|url=false|author=Tawaraya Sōtatsu|year=early to mid-1600s|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1958.289