Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments
height 209 mm × width 183 mm
Yanagawa Shigenobu (II)
A Man Standing Next to a Lady
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan, c. 1825 - c. 1830
Inscriptions
- inscription, verso, handwritten: Japanese characters.
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer Bernard Haase, London, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1985;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-575
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
Yanagawa Shigenobu II (died after 1868), a pupil of Yanagawa Shigenobu, first used the name Shigeyama or, incorrectly often read as Juzan, and either took the name of his teacher after Shigenobu left for Osaka, or only after his death in 1833.
Entry
A man in courtly robes decorated with a butterfly emblem holding an offering stand and standing beside a kneeling lady who is similarly dressed in court attire, her kimono featuring a pattern of cranes.
Number Eight: The Rare Luck Flower, Sono hachi - Udonge, from the series A Comparison of Flowers, Hana awase.
The Udonge in the title, from the Sanskrit udumbára, is the plant Ficus Glomerata, which takes 3000 years to bloom. Hence, it has come to mean an extremely rare stroke of luck. The patterns on their clothing identify the couple as Soga no Goro Tokimune, the younger of the two Soga brothers, and Maizuru, the younger sister of Asahina Saburo, the jester in the Tale of the Soga Brothers, Soga monogatari (date and author unknown).
Three poems by Chojintei, Keitei and Shakuyakutei [Nagane, 1767-1845, earlier Asagi no Uranari. As Sugawara no Nagane, he established his own poetry club, the Sugawararen, publishing from 1826].2
Issued by the Sugawararen
Signature reading: Yanagawa Shigenobu, with seal: Yanagawa
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 381
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, ', Yanagawa (II) Shigenobu, A Man Standing Next to a Lady, Japan, c. 1825 - c. 1830', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.446732
(accessed 23 November 2024 13:04:48).