Chrysanthemums by a Stream
Ogata Kōrin (attributed)
These screens recall a painting style so closely identified with Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716) that it is called Rinpa, or “Rin School,” after the ideograph “rin” in his name. The highly stylized background accentuates floral groupings that have been groomed so as to appear utterly artificial, like the synthetic arrangements available today. Kōrin's genius derived in large measure from natural phenomena painstakingly observed and then manipulated to create compositions of startling refinement and sparkling isolation. This process may have grown out of Kōrin's early immersion in the family textile business, a medium that encourages such dramatic distillations of form: the stream's gold-crested waves bring to mind traditional kimono robe designs of Kōrin's era. Works with the signature seen on this painting, including a style name, or persona suggested to Kōrin by his brother Kenzan (1663–1743), are sometimes considered to have been produced either in the last year of his life, when he was very ill, or after his death. In both scenarios, the lion’s share of the work would have been done by studio assistants, but little is truly known of his studio practice. Given the regularity of the gold waves on the stream, and the tension in the arrangement of the chrysanthemums, it is also possible that the screens were made in emulation of Kōrin's designs by a later artist.
Colors in this work
Details
- Date
- c. 1715–30 or after
- Dimensions
- image: height 1.632 m, width 3.699 m
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Palette
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Select a color to find related artworks.
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Gift of the Hanna Fund
Art Genome Taxonomy
11 tags
Subject Matter
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Flora Both · 100%
White chrysanthemum blossoms and their foliage are the central repeated subject, named in the title and clearly visible across the screen.
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Water Both · 100%
A dark stream occupies the lower and middle portions of the composition; the museum title and description identify it as a stream, while the image shows its repeated wave motifs.
Styles and Movements
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Rinpa School Metadata · 97%
The museum describes the work as closely associated with the highly stylized approach of Ogata Kōrin and the Rinpa, or Rin School, tradition.
Visual Qualities
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Patterns Both · 98%
The water is covered with recurring gold wave lines and small repeated marks, and the floral motifs recur across the panels; the catalog also emphasizes the regularity of the gold waves.
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Asymmetrical Visual · 96%
The floral clusters are distributed unevenly across the six-panel surface, with substantial areas of open gold ground and a pronounced shift in visual weight between panels.
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Dark Colors Visual · 95%
The broad blue-black stream forms a strongly dark area against the luminous gold ground and pale blossoms.
Medium and Techniques
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Painting Metadata · 99%
The museum classifies the object as a painting and records its medium as ink and color on gilded paper.
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Screen Format Metadata · 100%
The object is recorded as one of a pair of six-panel folding screens, directly supporting the screen format.
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Gold Leaf and Gilding Metadata · 98%
The recorded medium is ink and color on gilded paper, and the image visibly presents a gold-toned ground.
Geographic Regions
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Japanese Art Metadata · 99%
The Cleveland Museum of Art identifies the work as made in Japan and classifies it within Japanese Art.
Materials
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Use of Paper Metadata · 99%
The museum explicitly identifies paper as the support: ink and color on gilded paper.
Source & rights
Ogata Kōrin (Japanese, 1658–1716). Chrysanthemums by a Stream. Cleveland Museum of Art.
High-resolution sources
- Original TIFF ↗ 34,076 × 16,081 · Cleveland Museum Of Art · Available