hanging scroll;
painting
- Museum number
- 1913,0501,0.353
- Description
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Painting, hanging scroll. Courtesan walking pet dog on leash beside river; large heaps of rocks bound together with bamboo ropes at bank; above clouds in background silhouette of mountain. Ink and colour on paper. Signed and sealed.
- Production date
- 1777-1781 (c.)
- Dimensions
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Height: 105 centimetres
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Width: 36.10 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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Clark 1992
A courtesan walks her pet dog on a leash beside a river, where large heaps of rocks bound together with bamboo ropes prevent the erosion of the bank. Above clouds in the background is the silhouette of a mountain somewhat reminiscent of Mt Tsukuba, north-east of Edo (though this is by no means certain). The woman wears a purple-striped 'haori' jacket with patches of coloured brocade over a green kimono and yellow 'obi' tied at the front. The 'haori' was originally a man's garment, but was adopted by courtesans and geishas in the late eighteenth century and by women in general in the early nineteenth.
Paintings on paper are often more informal in terms of technique and composition than those on silk, and here Koryusai has tried an unusual, and it has to be said, somewhat awkward, pose, with one shoulder jutting forward and the arm bent behind. Pigments are not as thickly applied as they would be on silk: the cursive form of the signature, too, reflects this slightly 'relaxed' approach. The wash technique of the landscape, with 'pools' of unpainted paper left in reserve to suggest highlights, was the standard one used by artists of the Edo Kano school. If Koryusai was, indeed, once a retainer of the Tsuchiya family, he would have been able to enrol formally in the Kano school, an opportunity generally denied to Ukiyo-e painters who were not of the samurai class.
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Asahi 1996
犬を連れた遊女が蛇篭の積まれた河辺を歩いている。背景の雲の上には、確証はないが筑波山らしき山影が見える。緑色の着物に黄色い帯を前で締め、鮮やかな布を縫い付けた紫色の縞の羽織を着ている。羽織は本来男性用で、18世紀後半に遊女や芸者が着始め、19世紀初頭に素人女性も着るようになった。
紙本は絹本より技法や構図の点で無造作であるもので、ここでの湖龍斎は、一方の肩を前に突き出し腕を背中に回すという、異常で見苦しくもある姿勢に挑戦している。顔料は絹本ほど厚くなく、行書による落款もこの「リラックスした」気分を反映している。背景を一部白く抜いて明るい所を示すという技法は、江戸狩野に通常のものである。湖龍斎が本当に土屋家の浪人であったら、武士階級以外の浮世絵師には普段閉ざされた門である狩野派に、正式に学ぶことができたであろう。
(竹内美砂子(名古屋市博物館))
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1913
- Acquisition notes
- The collection of Japanese and Chinese paintings belonging to Arthur Morrison was purchased by Sir William Gwynne-Evans, who presented it to the British Museum in 1913.
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1913,0501,0.353
- Additional IDs
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Asia painting number: Jap.Ptg.1408 (Japanese Painting Number)