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Poems with Floral Decoration
Artist / Origin: Kojima Soshin (Japanese, 1580–ca. 1656)
Region: East Asia
Date: Edo period, 1652
Period: 1400 CE – 1800 CE
Material: Handscroll; ink and color on gold-decorated paper
Medium: Calligraphy, Illumination, and Illustrated Books
Dimensions: H: 12 ½ in. (31.7 cm.), W: 25 ft. (765.6 cm.)
Location: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Credit: Courtesy of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
The Five Scrolls
Artist / Origin: Aaron Wolf Herlingen (Austrian, ca. 1700–ca. 1757)
Region: Europe
Date: 1748
Period: 1400 CE – 1800 CE
Material: Ink and gold leaf on paper
Medium: Calligraphy, Illumination, and Illustrated Books
Dimensions: H: 7 ½ in. (19.1 cm.), W: 6 in. (15 cm.)
Location: Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
Credit: Courtesy of Bridgeman Art Library
Although we tend to regard the primary function of text as the communication of content, throughout history we find art in which the aesthetic qualities of writing take precedence over legibility. Such art, rather than stripping away meaning from the words, changes the way those words communicate. In works like Kojima Soshin’s Poems and Herlingen’s Five Scrolls, the script is important not only for what it says, but also for the way in which it is presented.