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Puppies, Sparrows, and Chrysanthemums
About the Artwork
These paintings were originally mounted as sliding doors (fusuma) used inside a building. The circular areas on the paintings’ paper surfaces are traces of the former positions of the door pulls (hikite). A flock of sparrows gathers on a trellis supporting flowering chrysanthemum. Below is a litter of puppies, some cavorting, others napping. The tender story created by the curious puppy peering up and tilting its head to listen to the bird’s insistent call in the leftmost part of the composition is characteristic of Nagasawa Rosetsu’s paintings, which often use animals to illustrate the human condition.
Inscriptions
Inscription: 平安・芦雪寫意; transliteration: Heian, Rosetsu sha'i; sealed: 魚; seal transliteration: Gyo
Provenance
?–1970: (Setsu Gatodo Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1970–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971). Japanese Screens from the Museum and Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 23-May 8, 1977). A Cleveland Bestiary. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 15-December 16, 1981). Reflections of Reality in Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 16-May 1, 1983). Animals in Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-December 10, 2023).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Nagasawa Rosetsu (Japanese, 1754–1799)
- Date
- c. 1792–94
- Medium
- Fusuma panels remounted as hanging scrolls; ink and slight color on paper
- Dimensions
- Each panel: 211.4 x 94 cm (83 1/4 x 37 in.); Each painting: 167.6 x 91.5 cm (66 x 36 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1970.71
More by Nagasawa Rosetsu in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009563
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