The three perfections: Japanese poetry, calligraphy, and painting : the Mary and Cheney Cowles collection

Abstract

"In East Asian cultures, the arts of poetry, calligraphy, and painting are traditionally referred to as the "Three Perfections." This exhibition presents over 160 rare and precious works--all created in Japan over the course of nearly a millennium--that showcase the power and complexity of the three forms of art. Examples include folding screens with poems brushed on sumptuous decorated papers, dynamic calligraphy by Zen monks of medieval Kyoto, hanging scrolls with paintings and inscriptions alluding to Chinese and Japanese literary classics, ceramics used for tea gatherings, and much more. The majority of the works are among the more than 250 examples of Japanese painting and calligraphy donated or promised to The Met by Mary and Cheney Cowles, whose collection is one of the finest and most comprehensive assemblages of Japanese art outside Japan." Metropolitan Museum of Art website.

Contents

Directors' foreword -- Preface : Becoming a collector of Japanese Art / Cheney Cowlws -- Acknowledgments -- Note to the reader -- Introduction -- Inscribing and painting poetry : the three perfections in Japanese art / John T. Carpenter -- Catalogue -- Courtly calligraphy styles : transcribing poetry in the Heian Palace : entries 1-13 -- Spiritual traces of ink : calligraphies by Medieval Zen monks : entries 14-31 -- Reinvigorating Classical poetry : brush writing in early modern times : entries 32-59 -- Poems of enlightenment : Edo-period Zen calligraphy : entries 60-84 -- China-themed paintings : literati art of later Edo Japan : entries 85-111 -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Credits