illustrated book;
book-case;
print
- Museum number
- 1973,0723,0.151
- Title
- Object: Ehon Don Kihote 絵本どんきほうて (The Illustrated Don Quixote)
- Description
-
Illustrated book. Thirty-one illustrations in black and white stencil, all hand-coloured in green, orange-red and yellow. With list of illustration titles. No. 17 of 75 impressions (with further twenty-five). Inscribed. Sewn in traditional Japanese style with covers bearing designs of clouds and other patterns in light brown and vermilion lacquer, with gold leaf. 'Chitsu' wrapper covered with stencilled cloth in indigo and yellow.
- Production date
- October 1936
- Dimensions
-
Height: 28.70 centimetres (covers)
-
Width: 20.90 centimetres (covers)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Smith 1994
The scene seems to be from Chapter 17 of Part 2 of 'Don Quixote', where the knight meets a carter and keeper delivering a lion and lioness to the King. The knight demands that the cage be opened so that he might fight the lion, and as always finally gets his way. The lion, however, turns his back on the knight while still in his cage, and the carter persuades him that the beast has therefore conceded the victory and is allowed to lock up the cage again, promising to report Don Quixote's courage to the King.
This book, which was the third produced by Serizawa, includes illustrations all coloured by hand in green and orange-red, the traditional colours of the early seventeenth-century 'tanrokubon' (red and green books) which Serizawa was here imitating. He also added a yellow to give greater variety. The lacquerer was Suzuki Shigeo. The paper stencils for the book are in the collection of the Fogg Art Museum, Boston.
Carl Tilden Keller, a collector and bibliographer of materials relating to 'Don Quixote', commissioned this Japanese version from Serizawa on the recommendation of Yanagi Soetsu and Kawai Kanjiro. Serizawa illustrated the story in the style of Japanese books of the early seventeenth century which were in turn popularised versions of the 'Nara ehon', cheaply produced hand-painted versions of medieval romances. In this style the Don appears as a high-ranking samurai. The complete book is reproduced in colour in 'Serizawa Keisuke zenshu', I, Chuo Koronsha, Tokyo, 1983. The artist produced a new version, 'Shinpan ehon Don Kihote', in 1976, with colours closely resembling those of his textile designs. It is reproduced in full in 'Serizawa Keisuke zenshu', VI, 1983. For 'tanrokubon' see Yoshida, Kogoro.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Lacquer cover begining to crack at fold.
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Don Quixote
- Acquisition date
-
1936
-
23 Jul 1973 (transfer date)
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1973,0723,0.151
- Additional IDs
-
Other BM number: Or.59.d.7 (previous British Library shelfmark)
-
Other BM number: XBL.83 (Ex British Library number)
