Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments
height 216 mm × width 191 mm
Totoya Hokkei
A Man Playing Backgammon with a Lady
Japan, Japan, 1822
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1984;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-545
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
Context
This series on the theme of sugoroku, a variant of backgammon, is associated with the New Horse Year, as the stones used in that game are called ‘horses’, uma. No other designs from this set have been identified. In many respects, this series is reminiscent of Hokkei's series for the Hyotanren for the same year titled A Series of Famous Horses, Meiba bantsuzuki, although the printing of that series is somewhat harsher.
The artist
Totoya Hokkei (1780-1850) was a pupil of Katsushika Hokusai, although he was first trained in the Kano painting tradition and used the art-names Kyosai and Aoigaoka. He was one of the most prolific designers of surimono in the 1820s and early 1830s, and also illustrated numerous collections of kyoka poetry.
Entry
A man seated before a standing screen (or is it the back of his chair?), playing sugoroku, a kind of backgammon, with a lady.
From their clothing, it is obvious that the figures are Chinese. They may represent the Chinese T'ang emperor Hsüan Tsung (685-762, Jp.: Genso), and his favourite concubine Yang Kuei-fei (719-56), or Yokihi as she is known in Japanese. More commonly, however, the pair is depicted playing the flute together in Japanese art.
The emblem of the Gogawa appears both as the title cartouche and on the side of the sugoroku board.
One poem by Kitsugoen [Kakumi, earlier Chikuitsuen Chihiro, also Toyokaku, a Chinese living in Edo, later in Owari Province and a judge of the Gogawa].2
The poem contains a reference to the New Horse Year; the stones used in the game are known as ‘horses’ or ‘colts’.
Print from A Series of Prints on the Sugaroku Game Sugoroku bantsuzuki.
Issued by the Gogawa
Signature reading: Hokkei, with seal: Hokkei
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 290
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Totoya Hokkei, A Man Playing Backgammon with a Lady, Japan, 1822', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.460022
(accessed 13 November 2024 17:42:11).