Object details

Object number

CR34n33

Creator(s)

Niiro Chunosuke (Japan, 1868 - 1954)

Title

Pagoda

Date

about 1922

Medium

Carved wood

Dimensions

11 cm (4 5/16 in.)

Provenance

Gift from Mr. and Mrs. Tomita Kojiro (1890-1976), scholar of Japanese art and head of the Asiatic Arts section of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to Isabella Stewart Gardner on 25 June 1924, along with plum blossoms collected in Japan at the grave of Okakura Kakuzo's (1862-1913), Japanese art historian, philosopher, and friend of Gardner.

Commentary

When Tomita Kojiro (1890-1976) gave this pagoda to Isabella Stewart Gardner on June 25th, 1924, it was filled with plum blossoms from the grave of Okakura Kakuzō (1862-1913). Both Niiro Chūnosuke (1869-1954), who carved this pagoda, and Tomita were connected to Gardner because of their shared friendships with Okakura.

Bibliography

Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 35-36 fig. 35, 50 n. 123.
Talia Andrei, "Isabella's Reliquary of Friendship: Her Bond with Okakura Kakuzō," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 18 October 2022, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/isabellas-reliquary-friendship-her-bond-okakura-kakuzo

Gallery

Chinese Room

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