kakemono-e;
diptych print
- Museum number
- 2000,0726,0.1
- Description
-
Vertical diptych colour woodblock print, mounted as a hanging scroll (kakemono-e). High-ranking courtesan processing.
- Production date
- 1818-1830
- Dimensions
-
Height: 126 centimetres (mount)
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Height: 72.80 centimetres
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Width: 35.50 centimetres (mount)
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Width: 24.80 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
For similar examples, see the group of 19 kakemono-e hanging scrolls (by Eizan, Kunisada and Kuniyoshi) in the National Museum of Scotland (A.1887.745.110 to 128).
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With the composition cropped radically at the sides, the courtesan looms dramatically out at us, in a manner reminiscent of the tall, narrow, so-called ‘pillar prints’ (hashira-e) that were popular in the eighteenth century (Clark et al 2013, cat. 38). In the early nineteenth century the custom caught on of vertically linking two large prints to form a kind of substitute for the hanging scrolls that were typically used to decorate a display alcove (tokonoma) in a reception room. This special format of print came to be known as a ‘hanging-scroll picture’ (kakemono-e) and was very popular. Auspicious subjects such as Seven Gods of Good Fortune and Pine and Crane were often used for this kind of print, also landscapes and figures from mythology and history. However, Eisen and his teacher Kikukawa Eizan (1787–1867) also created many examples of courtesans. Traditionally, pictures of beautiful women by ukiyo-e artists had taken the form of specially commissioned hanging-scroll paintings, and here was an inexpensive substitute. Demand must have been enormous. This example has preserved its original dyed paper borders, and crudely carved and blacked roller ends, in place of the silk brocade borders and ivory or wood roller ends typically used to mount more expensive paintings. Eisen was celebrated for his voluptuous paintings of beautiful women redolent with the fragrance of powder and paint. Floating world art in the early nineteenth century was dominated by the Utagawa school. Eisen, however, was influenced by Hokusai, and was unusual for the independence he maintained from the Utagawa school artists during the Bunka (1804–18) and Bunsei (1818–30) eras. His artistic rivalry and artistic exchange with Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1864) is a fruitful topic for further study. [NMa]
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2010 19 Oct - 2011 14 Feb, London, BM, Japanese Galleries, 'Japan from Prehistory to the Present'
2013 3 Oct - 2014 5 Jan, London, BM, Shunga: Sex and pleasure in Japanese art, 1600-1900
- Acquisition date
- 2000
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 2000,0726,0.1
