Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments
height 130 mm × width 182 mm
Ryûryûkyo Shinsai
Manufacturing Accountancy Books
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan, 1809
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer C.P.J. van der Peet Japanese Prints, Amsterdam, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1988;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-638
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
Context
The Urautsugai is Number 11 in Oeda Ryuho's A Series of Shells as Brocade of the Coast, Kaitsukushi ura no nishiki, of 1749.
For general notes on the series, see RP-P-1991-561.
The artist
Ryuryukyo Shinsai (n.d., but often given as 1764?-1820; the latter date is definitely incorrect as his last known designs were issued in 1825) is said to have first been follower of Tawaraya Sori, and later of Katsushika Hokusai, who gave him the art-name Shinsai in 1800. His personal name was Masayuki. He was one of the most prolific designers of surimono in the early 19th century and thoroughly explored the possibilities of issuing works in titled series.
Entry
A woman holds a newly finished accountancy book in her hands while her assistant works on a pile of papers pressed under a large weight suspended from a bamboo pole. A potted dwarf plum and adonis, fukujuso, in a corner on the veranda.
The Backing Shell, Urautsugai (Caltar haematragus Menke), from the series A Matching Game of Poems, Kasen awase.
The association of the 'Backing Shell' with a mounter's or binder's studio is rather obvious and was, in fact, also used by Hokusai in his series A Matching Game with the Genroku Poem Shells, Genroku kasen kaiawase, of 1821 (e.g. RP-P-1963-26). The dating 'New Snake Year', Mi no haru, i.e., 1809, appears on an accountancy book behind the woman.
Three poems by Idatei Kawatsune, from Katakura in Shinshu, i.e., Shinano Province [a judge of the Yomogawa],2 Beisai Kuraseki, and Haido Atsufusa [also Koma no Atsufusa or Haidodo Atsufusa, from Muramatsu in Shinano Province].
Issued by the Yomogawa
Signature reading: Shinsai ga
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 156
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Ryûryûkyo Shinsai, Manufacturing Accountancy Books, Japan, 1809', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.422464
(accessed 23 November 2024 13:15:27).