Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments
height 207 mm × width 181 mm
Yanagawa Shigenobu (II)
Woman Preparing to Inscribe a Fan
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan, 1822
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer Paul Brandt, Amsterdam, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1982;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-460
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
Context
At least seven designs of this series for the New Horse Year have been identified. Although the series-title suggests that it would incorporate famous historical horses (cf., for example, a similarly titled series of surimono designed by Hokkei for the Hyotanren for 1822, A Series of Famous Horses, Meiba bantsuzuki), the designs here are of women engaged in various occupations. As for the Sugawararen, this group seems to have been established only later, e.g. RP-P-1958-515.
Keyes2 dates the series to the Horse Year 1834, as Shigenobu II would still have been using the name Shigeyama in 1825, only adopting the name Shigenobu after Shigenobu's death in 1833 (cf. RP-P-1991-579). Shigenobu I, however, seems to have initially used the signature 'Toto' ('from the Eastern Capital') Yanagawa Shigenobu when first arriving in Osaka - then a large circular seal reading 'Yanagawa' - and from at least 1824 onwards, the signature 'Reisai' with seal `Yanagawa' (see Crusvar).3 It is therefore assumed here that Shigenobu II started using the Yanagawa Shigenobu signature on his Edo productions after his teacher decided to remain in Osaka for a while.
For other designs in the series, see:
1: Matsukaze: Woman with buckets on yoke4, MFA 11.20727
2: lchiroku: Woman and girl playing backgammon5,6, MFA 11.20732
3: Konoshitakage: Woman sheltering from the rain under a tree - NME, Leiden, 1353-1917a7,8,9, MFA 11.20736
4: Usugumo: Two courtesans, one holding a cat - MFA 11.20738
5: Nanryo: Woman on balcony overlooking a bay10,11, MFA 11.20724
6: Sometsukige: Woman dyeing/stretching cloth12,13,14,15,16, MFA 11.20730
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 seated woman rubbing ink on an ink-stone, sheets of paper and an open fan in front of her. In the foreground a small case of pigments to be used in her painting.
Number Six: Rubbing Ink, Sono roku – Surisumi, from A Series of Famous Horses, Meibazoroi.
The allusion seems to be to the first painting of the New Year.
Three poems by Shikosha Mimihiko from Kashu, i.e., Kaga Province [not the Edo poet Mimihiko listed in Kano17], Chokintei Aoki and Shakuyakutei [Nagane, 1767-1845, earlier Asagi no Uranari. As Sugawara no Nagane, he established his own poetry club, the Sugawararen, publishing from 1826].18 The second poem, by Aoki, is more directly connected to the representation than the other two. It speaks of the 'first painting of the year' and an 'open fan shaped as Mount Fuji'.
Issued by the Sugawararen(?)
Signature reading: Yanagawa Shigenobu, with seal: Yanagawa
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 374
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, ', Yanagawa (II) Shigenobu, Woman Preparing to Inscribe a Fan, Japan, 1822', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.432602
(accessed 22 November 2024 16:24:57).