print
- Museum number
- 1937,0710,0.78
- Title
-
Object: Omu Komachi あふむ小町 (Parrot Komachi)
-
Series: Futaba-gusa nana Komachi 二葉草七小町 (Little Seedlings: Seven Komachis)
- Description
-
Colour woodblock print. One composition of seven designs. Mother and baby playing at looking at their reflections in metal basin of water. Inscribed, signed, marked and sealed.
- Production date
- 1803 (ca.)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 36 centimetres
-
Width: 23.30 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
-
-
-
- Curator's comments
- Asano and Clark 1995
A mother and baby play at looking at their reflections in a metal basin of water. Perhaps she has just finished shaving parts of his hair, as was the traditional custom. The "parrot Komachi" of the original episode refers to when Komachi "parroted" a poem of the Retired Emperor Yozei, returning it with just one syllable changed. Here this has been changed to the idea of a reflection from the surface of the water.
The large oblong seal on the British Museum impression, reading "Kyosai shu" (belonging to Kyosai), is the collector's seal of the painter Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-89).
Literature:
Shibui, Kiyoshi 渋井清, 'Ukiyo-e zuten, vol. 13: Utamaro' 「ウキヨエ図典13 歌麿」, Kazama Shobo, Tokyo, 1964, pl. 141-1-4.
"Kitagawa Utamaro sakuhin mokuroku" 「喜多川歌麿作品目録」, 'Ukiyo-e shuka', 「浮世絵聚花」, vol. 3 (Bosuton Bijutsukan III ボストン美術館３), Shogakkan, Tokyo, 1978, pp. 235-254, pl. 114-4.
Other impressions:
Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Berlin.
The British Museum, London (another impression).
Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Bruxelles.
The Portland Art Museum.
Tokyo National Museum 東京国立博物館.
[Main text translated in Japanese below / 以下上記本文日本語訳]
浅野／クラーク 1995
金盥の水に顔を映して遊ぶ母と子。頭の毛を剃った後であろうか。本来の鸚鵡小町は、鸚鵡返しに返歌を詠む、というものであるが、それを水面に映る、反射するという意に転化させたものであろう。
画中の「狂斎主」の長方印は、河鍋暁斎の所蔵印である。
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1937
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1937,0710,0.78
