By Michizumi Iwamatsu (1798-1854), signed Nitta Minamoto Michizumi hitsu and with seal Minamoto no in Michizumi
Japan, 19^th century, Edo period (1615-1868)

Ink and watercolor on paper. Mounted as a hanging scroll within a silk brocade frame, with lacquered wooden jikusaki (roller ends). With free brushstrokes the artist captured the lively portrayal of a whimsical cat, looking at the beholder with wide round eyes. Around the neck it wears a light-red ribbon.

During the Edo period, cats were expensive luxuries that most families couldn't afford. As a result, many families bought pictures of cats painted by the four generations of Iwamatsu, whose works were known as Nitta cats. It is thought that the cat came to be worshipped as a symbol to protect cocoons and larvae from rats and to wish for a good sericultural harvest. Sericulture (growing silk worms) was susceptible to the damaging effects of weather and disease, so it was truly a matter of divine providence. Cats appear frequently in materials related to sericulture. The lords of Iwamatsu family (18th, 19th Michizumi, and 21st lords) all painted cats and sold paintings to supplement the revenue for the domain.

Inscriptions: Along the right margin signed 新田源道純筆 Nitta Minamoto Michizumi hitsu and seal 源印道純 Minamoto no in Michizumi.
The hakogaki box inscription reads: 新田源道純、猫 Nitta Minamoto Michizumi neko [Cat, by Nitta Michizumi, Genji clan descendant. A paper label on the box reads: 第七號、新田道純、猫 ‘Dai nanago, Nitta Michizumi, neko’ [Number 7, cat, Nitta Michizumi].

SIZE (image) 37 x 51 cm, SIZE (incl. mounting) 129.5 x 65 cm

Condition: Excellent condition with minor wear such as very slight creases and tiny stains.
Provenance: The James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago, Illinois, purchased at Christie’s (labels to box). The base with an old Christie’s label inscribed ‘MA J361’. James and Marilynn Alsdorf got married in 1952 and built a life that was centered on art, philanthropy and family. Studying and collecting art was their all-consuming passion, and it took them all over the world. Their spirit of adventure was unique; they went places that few collectors at the time were curious and confident enough to explore. As their interests diversified, so did their collection. ‘They were not strategic in their collecting,’ recalls Bridget Alsdorf, the couple’s granddaughter. ‘They were guided by what fascinated them and gave them pleasure, by knowledge and instinct. They were an incredible team.’ As well as being great collectors, the Alsdorfs were loyal supporters of museums and cultural institutions across Chicago and the wider United States, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University and the Art Institute of Chicago. James Alsdorf served as Chairman of the AIC from 1975 to 1978, and Marilynn sat on various committees. In 1967, the Alsdorfs joined other prominent Chicago collectors, including, Edwin and Lindy Bergman and Robert and Beatrice Mayer, in founding the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, an institution to which they would provide extensive financial and personal leadership. After James’s passing in 1990, Marilynn, who was known as ‘the queen of the Chicago arts community’, continued to build upon her husband’s legacy in art and philanthropy, making a transformative bequest to the AIC in 1997, and funding a curatorial position in Indian and Southeast Asian Art at the AIC in 2006.

With an inscribed tomobako storage box.

Michizumi Iwamatsu (1798-1854), also known as Nitta Minamoto or Nitta Michizumi was a samurai with the rank of Hatamito. His father Iwamatsu Yoshizumi (1777-1825) was a landlord of Shimotajima at Nitta-gun district, Kozuke-no-kuni (now Ota City in modern Gunma Prefecture). Nitta Michizumi and his son Toshizumi were very fond of cats and known for their cat painting, or the Nitta-neko (Nitta Cats) 新田猫.

Museum comparison:
For a closely related scroll painting of a Nitta cat, by Michizumi Iwamatsu, see the collection of the Takasaki Museum.