Ono no Tofu
(Japan and Korea )
Ono no Tofu, a 10th-century calligrapher and statesman, seven times failed to achieve promotion at the imperial court. Leaving the palace one day, he noticed a frog attempting to leap up to the branch of a willow tree. Seven times the frog leaped; seven times it failed. On the eighth try it succeeded, and Ono no Tofu took heart, embarking on his illustrious career and serving in later centuries as a model for schoolchildren learning to write.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Justine Lewis Keidel [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1986, by gift.
Geographies
Japan, Osaka (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 9 15/16 x W: 7 3/8 in. (25.3 x 18.8 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Justine Lewis Keidel, 1986
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
95.92