Object details

Accession number

CR34n17

Primary Creator

Japanese

Full title

Cloth (Fukusa) with Inscribed Poem

Creation Date

19th century

Provenance

Gift from Okakura Kakuzo (1862-1913), Japanese art historian and philosopher, to Isabella Stewart Gardner, 11 September 1905.

Marks

Inscribed in black ink (recto): This is a fukusa with which to wrap the badger-shaped incense container made by Raku Kichibei. I have been asked to compose a poem and write it on this fukasa. I know not whether the badger beats his stomach [like a drum], but by the fragrance which immediately comes forth, I think he is trying to fool us [translation from Japanese].

Dimensions

26 x 26 cm (10 1/4 x 10 1/4 in.)

Display Media

Silk with ink inscriptions

Web Commentary

Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.

Permanent Gallery Location

Chinese Room

Bibliography

William Thrasher and Caroline Graboys. "The Beginnings of Chanoyu in America." Chanoyu Quarterly (1984), pp. 20, 24, 27-28, ill. (as Japanese)
Sunao Nakamura (ed.). Okakura Kakuzo: Collected English Writings, III (Tokyo, 1984), pp. 61-63, 58-59.
Victoria Weston. East Meets West: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Okakura Kakuzo. Exploring Treasures in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum V. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1992), p. 28.
Rebecca G. Breslow. "Humanity in a Tea-cup: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Okakura Kakuzo" in Chanoyu Quarterly: Tea and the Arts of Japan, No. 85 (1996), pp. 51-53.
Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), pp. 176-77.
Louise Allison Cort. "Mrs. Gardner's 'Set of Tea-Things.' A Vehicle for Friendship, Power, & Aesthetic Instruction" in Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 384-98, figs. 1-5, 10-11.

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