Special Exhibition Commemorating Designation as an Important Cultural Property
The Medicine Chest with Herb Design by Iizuka Tōyō I
- Saturday, November 2 – Sunday, December 8, 2024
| Closed | Mondays, except November 4 (closed the following Tuesday) |
|---|---|
| Hours | 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.（last entry: 4:30 p.m.） |
| General admission (On-line timed-entry tickets) | Adult 1500 yen, Student 1200 yen |
| Gallery | 1/2 |
The Medicine Chest with Herb Design, which was created by Iizuka Tōyō I (d. 1790) and handed down by the Hachisuka clan, lords of the Awa Tokushima domain (today’s Tokushima prefecture), is in the Nezu Museum’s collection. This work has been designated an Important Cultural Property this year.
The star of this exhibition is that Medicine Chest with Herb Design. Its luxurious contents are all on display, as is the herb design on the inside of its front panel, the chest’s most remarkable feature. That herb design is a guide to exploring the context in which the chest was created, the intersection of natural history studies and art in the latter half of the eighteenth century. This exhibition is also the first opportunity to address Iizuka Tōyō I’s signature works as a group. Please enjoy the world of art that flourished within the network of lords who loved studying natural history.
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Medicine Chest with Herb Design and Its Contents
By Iizuka Tōyō I - Pair of six-panel screens; ink and color on paper
- Japan Edo period, dated 1771
Nezu Museum - This daimyo treasure is utterly sumptuous, from the togidashi maki-e (polished maki-e) applied to the entire surface of the chest to the advanced techniques used on its metal fittings. The medicines it once held have not survived, but it still contains the lovely silver lidded containers for them and other implements. The entire contents are on display during this exhibition.
- Shūhō Gafu, Illustration Book of Plants
- Album; color on paper
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Edo period, 18th century
Takamatsu Matsudaira Family Historical Documents (Kagawa Prefectural Museum) -
Matsudaira Yoritaka, the fifth-generation lord of the Takamatsu domain (now Kagawa prefecture), was famous as a daimyo who loved studying natural history. He ordered the production of an illustrated natural history, a thirteen-volume project with which Hiraga Gennai, who served the domain as scholar, was also involved. This album is one of the seven colorful volumes in which the plants’ characteristics are skillfully depicted. The motifs and style reveal a close interactions between this work and the Medicine Chest with Herb Design.
(The pages on display will be changed during the exhibition period.)
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Saddle with Wave Design
By Iizuka Tōyō I - Maki-e lacquer on wood
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Edo period, dated 1781
Private Collection - This saddle was made by Ōtsubo Dōzen, a famous Muromachi-period craftsman. At the order of Hachisuka Shigeyoshi, Tōyō refinished it in maki-e lacquer. The three-dimensional quality of the maki-e brilliantly expresses the eddying current at the Naruto Strait.
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Inrō with Snowflakes Design
By Hara Yōyūsai - Maki-e lacquer on wood
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Japan Edo period, 19th century
Nezu Museum - This work was created amidst the boom in natural history studies. Doi Toshitsura, lord of the Koga domain (now Ibaraki prefecture), published his An Illustrated Study of Snowflakes as the result of twenty years of observation of snow’s crystalline forms. The illustrations, by Hara Yōyūsai, who served the domain, have become sublime works in maki-e. Toshitsura is said to have presented those works to the shogunal and daimyo families.