Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments, tsuyazuri, mica and overprinting or surface polishing of the ground
height 209 mm × width 179 mm
Kazan Watanabe
A Gold Coin
Japan, Japan, Japan, 1822
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer C.P.J. van der Peet Japanese Prints, Amsterdam, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1987;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-644
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
Context
Interestingly, Gurendo and Magao often appear together on surimono, see, e.g. RP-P-1958-275 (1821) and RP-P-1958-343 (1824). The latter, a design by Hokkei, shows The Monkey Bridge, Saruhashi, on the Koshukaido, which would almost lead one to believe that these two poets often travelled together, too.
For other surimono by Kazan, see:
Court lady listening to a nightingale in the garden (1828)2
Minister Hong bows to a boy on an ox (1829)3
A painting of Uzume or Otafuku on a fan floating on a stream4
The artist
Watanabe Kazan (1793-1841), primarily a painter who very occasionally also designed prints, was a pupil of Tani Buncho and of the Nanga painter Kaneko Kinryo. He also studied Western techniques. His identification as Yokoyama Kazan, a Shijo painter from Kyoto, seems unlikely. He is not to be confused with Utayama, either.
Entry
A large gold coin, oban, on a piece of brocade patterned with peonies.
The gold oban was the largest of the five coins introduced in 1601 by Tokugawa leyasu (1542-1616), three of which were gold (the other two being the koban and ichibu), and the other two were silver (chogin and mameita). It measured about 150 x 90 mm. Its value equalled ten ryo. They were normally hand-signed in ink by the Master of the Mint, as here.
Two poems by Gurendo Nakakubo [studied with Akera Kanko],5 and Kyokado [Yomo no Utagaki Magao, 1753-1829, Shikatsube Magao, pupil of Yomo Akara. Used the name 'Yomo' from 1796, when he became a judge of the Yomogawa. Alternative name Kyokado].6
Magao's poem relates to his First Lucky Dream of the New Year, in which he sees ponies ready to depart for Michinoku in the north, where he intends to spend some time in the mountains - possibly also alluding to the zodiacal sign of the Horse. It was considered auspicious to dream of Mount Fuji, a falcon and eggplants on New Year's Eve, the so-called First Lucky Dream, hatsuyume.
Issued by the poets
Signature reading: Kazan
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 472
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Kazan Watanabe, A Gold Coin, Japan, 1822', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.363257
(accessed 15 November 2024 09:49:45).