SHUNMAN (1757–1820). A koto. (Sold)
Artist:
KUBO SHUNMAN (1757–1820)
Subject:
A seventeen strings koto and a lacquered box. The musical instrument is partly covered with a cloth case decorated with Japanese iris. The black box behind the koto is a container for the instrument’s bridges some of which are scattered around.
Description:
A fine surimono printed with delicate color shading and fine embossing. Similar still lifes with the koto have been designed also by Shigemasa, one of the teachers of Shunman, Hokusai and Shinsai.
Series:
From the series Tales of Ise (Ise Monogatari), this design refers to the Section 9 of this classical collection of 125
sections attributed to Ariwara no Narihira (825-80). At least nineteen designs in the series have been identified so far.
Signature:
Shunman sei. The poem signed Asakura-an Kyō Sanshō.
Date:
1812
Publisher:
Privately published by the Asakusa poetry club (also known as Tsubogawa for the jar shape emblem).
Size:
Shikishiban surimono, 20,5x18,4 cm.
Medium:
Woodblock color print with blind printing and metallic pigments.
Literature:
Illustrated in our catalog, Surimono. Poetic Images in Japanese Prints. New Acquisitions June 2022, no. 1. Other impressions are illustrated and the poem translated in Ward, Sidney C. (editor). Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Surimono. Tokyo: International Surimono Society, 1979, p. 59, no 17. Markus, Helena. Surimono. Stampe augurali del Giappone del ‘700 e ‘800. Firenze: Mario Luca Giusti, 1983. , p. 72 and Lienert, Ursula, Hannelore Dreves, Mizuki Wildenhahn. Warten auf Neujahrslicht: Japanische Grußblätter (Surimono) aus dem Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. Großheirath: Ostasien Verlag, 2011, n. 95. For a detailed comment on Shunman’s surimono series inspired by classical literature see Kondo, Eiko. “Three Albums of surimono Preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris”. In From East and West. Roma: IsMEO, 1985. , p. 256-26. Carpenter, John T. “Textures of antiquarian imagination: Kubo Shunman and the kokugaku movement”, in Newland, Amy Reigle (Ed.) The commercial and cultural climate of Japanese printmaking. Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2004. , p. 95-101. Forrer, Matthi. Surimono in the Rijksmuseum. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2013. , p. 119. Kok, Daan Pieter. Visualizing the classics: reading surimono and kyōka books as social and cultural history. (Doctoral thesis), Leiden: Leiden University Repository, 2017. , p. 142-226 and p. 249-250 for a list of subjects in the series.
Conditions:
Fine impression and color, one tiny wormhole, very good conditions.
Item no:
D 410
Status:
Sold