- Gallery Text
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Pictures of the floating world, which highlighted small groups or individual figures, drew on the conventions of earlier genre paintings, such as this lively rendering of the festive horse races held annually at the Kamo Shrine in Kyoto. Although the paintings depict the ritual races staged for the entertainment of the shrine gods, their true interest lies in the detailed illustration of individual spectators, from well-heeled aristocrats to commoners boisterously cheering on the jockeys. Micro-dramas unfold as people eat, drink, gossip, and even brawl. Comedy and intrigue, such as the theatrical unseating of the jockey in the right screen, provide points of entry into this otherwise visually overwhelming scene.
- Identification and Creation
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- Object Number
- TL42391.14
- Title
- Horse Racing at Kamo Shrine
- Classification
- Paintings
- Work Type
- painting, screen
- Date
- early to mid-17th century
- Places
- Creation Place: East Asia, Japan
- Period
- Edo period, 1615-1868
- Culture
- Japanese
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/340336
- Physical Descriptions
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- Medium
- Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gold, and gold leaf on paper
- Dimensions
- each screen, painting proper: H. 150.6 × W. 360.4 cm (59 5/16 × 141 7/8 in.)
each screen, overall with mount: H. 165 × W. 375.4 cm (64 15/16 × 147 13/16 in.)
- Acquisition and Rights
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- Credit Line
- Promised gift of Robert S. and Betsy G. Feinberg
- Object Number
- TL42391.14
- Division
- Asian and Mediterranean Art
- Contact
- am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
- The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.
- Descriptions
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- Commentary
- Right screen: Kamigamo Shrine
Left screen: Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine
- Publication History
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Rachel Saunders and Yukio Lippit, Painting Edo: Selections from the Feinberg Collection of Japanese Art, exh. cat. (Cambridge, MA, 2020), pp. 28-29, figs. 11-13
- Exhibition History
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32Q: 2600 East Asian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/23/2022 - 12/05/2022
- Related Articles
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This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
