Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting
height 196 mm × width 129 mm
Ryûryûkyo Shinsai
Temple Servant Leading a White Horse
Japan, Japan, Japan, 1810
Provenance
…; collection Edmond de Goncourt (1822-96), Paris;...; 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-1991-554
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
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 female temple servant, a black cap on her head, leads a white horse by its bridle past the stairs leading to a temple veranda. The horse's hair has been tied up in small tufts.
There was a daily custom of leading a sacred white horse, shinme, three times around the Kannon Hall of Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, Tokyo. The person leading the horse wore a black cap.
Two poems by Jinnichitei Tahirako and Kyokabo Komendo [earlier known as Goyuken Komendo, or also Sakazuki, a judge of the Yomogawa].2
Number One, Sono ichi, from the series The Spring Colt, Harugoma.
Issued by an unidentified poetry club
Signature reading: Shinsai ga
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 165
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Ryûryûkyo Shinsai, Temple Servant Leading a White Horse, Japan, 1810', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.422470
(accessed 15 November 2024 07:07:12).