Post by Saionji Shonagon on May 20, 2009 19:36:16 GMT -5
Ran into this handsome fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art - I managed to squeeze in an all too brief visit while I was back east.
Portrait of a Warrior, late 16th century, acquired by the Met in 2004, the display card (which I also photographed) reads:
"This newly discovered painting depicting an unidentified warrior is executed at a size usually reserved for portraits of emperors and shoguns, and it ranks among the largest and finest secular portraits from Japan. Although the family crest of wild orange is associated with the Shibata family of the late 16th century, the sitter's exact identity remains unknown.
"The unnamed samurai, clearly an important member of a warrior clan, is depicted grasping the end of his long beard, which was banned in the seventeenth century as an expression of antiestablishment sentiment and unwelcome individualism. His eyes seem to twinkle with mischievous pleasure. Such lively, informal representation was the norm in secular depictions of deceased people, while more formality was standard in portraits of those still living. Details of the sitter's robe and swords also point to a late sixteenth century date for the painting."
www.wodefordhall.com/DSCF1017.jpg
www.wodefordhall.com/DSCF1018.jpg
(I chose to post links rather than link the photos here because they ate up too much screen space.)
Portrait of a Warrior, late 16th century, acquired by the Met in 2004, the display card (which I also photographed) reads:
"This newly discovered painting depicting an unidentified warrior is executed at a size usually reserved for portraits of emperors and shoguns, and it ranks among the largest and finest secular portraits from Japan. Although the family crest of wild orange is associated with the Shibata family of the late 16th century, the sitter's exact identity remains unknown.
"The unnamed samurai, clearly an important member of a warrior clan, is depicted grasping the end of his long beard, which was banned in the seventeenth century as an expression of antiestablishment sentiment and unwelcome individualism. His eyes seem to twinkle with mischievous pleasure. Such lively, informal representation was the norm in secular depictions of deceased people, while more formality was standard in portraits of those still living. Details of the sitter's robe and swords also point to a late sixteenth century date for the painting."
www.wodefordhall.com/DSCF1017.jpg
www.wodefordhall.com/DSCF1018.jpg
(I chose to post links rather than link the photos here because they ate up too much screen space.)
