Japanese
Paint Brush, 19th century
Animal hair, bamboo, 19.5 cm (7 11/16 in.)
Japanese paint brush with a bamboo handle and animal hair bristles. The handle is smooth and a light brown color. The upper end of the brush has Japanese letters carved into the wood. The letters closest to the top have been painted a bright green color and the letters closer to the bottom are dark red. The end of the handle closest to the bristles has some black stains that suggest the paint brush may have been used at one point. The bristles of the brush are black and wiry.
Blue Room
Commentary
This brush commemorates Isabella Stewart Gardner’s close friendship with scholar Okakura Kakuzo. The two became close while he served as curator of Asian art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. They spent many days engrossed in conversation at her museum, where he once presided over the Japanese tea ceremony. When he passed away, she placed this brush in the Blue Room of her museum next to a poem he had written and given to her.