- Museum number
- 1881,1210,0.1763
- Description
-
Painting, hanging scroll. Geisha walking beside Sumida River beneath bare willow tree in winter, wearing purple kimono with design around hem of fallen cherry petals on river with trout swimming, together with striped brown belt of carp leaping up waterfall; Tatekawa tributary (between Ryogoku and Shin'o bridges) seen on far bank. Ink, colours and gold on silk. Signed and sealed.
- Production date
- 1818-1844
- Dimensions
-
Height: 105.50 centimetres
-
Width: 43.50 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
-
- Curator's comments
-
Clark 1992
Perhaps the most common composition for a Hokuba painting is that of a woman, often a geisha, walking on the embankment beside the Sumida River, the figure done in high polychrome with a characteristically long, oval face and the landscape done in abbreviated Kano wash style. Here a geisha walks beneath a bare willow tree in winter, wearing a purple kimono with a design around the hem of fallen cherry petals on a river where trout are swimming, together with a striped brown 'obi' of carp leaping up a waterfall. To judge from the boat-houses to the right on the far bank this is the section of the Sumida between Ryogoku and Shin'o Bridges, and the river flowing off the Sumida from the far bank is the Tatekawa.
As so often, Hokuba uses a similar composition, but set at a different beauty spot in Edo at a different season, in several other of his paintings - for instance, two paintings of beauties in almost identical poses, with distant landscapes of the Masaki Inari Shrine ('NU', vol. 7 (1982), no. 59; Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts). Clearly Hokuba was content to ring the changes in this way to meet the strong demand for his works.
Literature:
Anderson, William, 'Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of Japanese and Chinese Paintings in the British Museum'. London, Trustees of the British Museum, 1886, no. 1763.
'(Hizo) Ukiyo-e taikan' ('Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collections'), ed. Narazaki Muneshige. Vol. 1, Tokyo, Kodansha, 1987, BW no. 29.
-
Asahi 1996
北馬肉筆画のもっとも典型的な構図は、隅田川の堤を歩く瓜実顔の女性、とくに芸者を濃彩で描き、背景を狩野派風の淡彩で処理するものであろう。ここでも、落花流水に鮎の裾模様がある紫色の衣装を着け鯉の滝登りの帯を締めた芸者が、冬枯れの柳の下を歩んでいる。対岸右手の船着場から判断すれば、ここは両国橋と新大橋の間で、対岸の支流は立川であろう。
北馬には、構図は同じで背景の季節と名所が違う作品が幾つかある。ほとんど同じ姿勢の美人を真崎稲荷神社に置く2作品などである（楢崎宗重監修『肉筆浮世絵』第7巻 1982年 集英社 59図と麻布美術工芸美術館寄託の別作品）。頻繁な需要に応じるため、北馬はこうして少しずつ変化を付けようとしたのである。
（竹内美砂子（名古屋市博物館））
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2017 Apr-Dec, London, BM, Japanese Galleries, 'Japan Prehistory to the Present'
- Acquisition date
- 1881
- Acquisition notes
- The collection of over 2,000 Japanese and Chinese paintings assembled by Prof. William Anderson during his residency in Japan, 1873-1880, was acquired by the Museum in 1881. The items were not listed in the register, but rather were published separately as the 'Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of a Collection of Japanese and Chinese Paintings in the British Museum' (Longmans & Co, 1886).
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1881,1210,0.1763
- Additional IDs
-
Asia painting number: Jap.Ptg.1498 (Japanese Painting Number)
