Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments, blindprinting and embossing
height 135 mm × width 185 mm
Kubota Shunman
Drawing Water from the Well
Japan, Japan, Japan, 1807
Inscriptions
-
stamped on verso with mark of Heinz M. Kaempfer
Provenance
…; the dealer or collection Felix Tikotin (1893-1986) (collector's mark);…; collection Heinz M. Kaempfer (1904-86) (collector's mark);…; purchased from the dealer Robin Kennedy Fine Japanese Prints, Richmond, England, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1987;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-623
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
The Way of Presenting an Over-Kimono: Accomplished as Described in the--(?), Kaminishimo no idashiyo, - Toshidoshi - shirushite wo nasu, from the series The Way of Training According to the Colours of Spring, Shunshoku shitsukekata.
Entry
A courtier and a workman in ceremonial attire drawing the first water, wakamizu, from the well in the New Year. Behind them a blossoming plum tree, next to the well a large stoneware cask for storing the water.
The dating, written top left, reads 'Year of the Hare', Hinoto u no toshi, i.e., 1807.
The print features ample embossing, especially on the clothing of the man drawing the water.
Two poems by Saisoen Kawazudera and 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].2
Both poems playfully refer to the first water drawn in the New Year being used to make the First Lucky Tea, fukucha, of the New Year.
Issued by a follower of the poet Yomo Magao
Signature reading: Shosado, with seal: Sho
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 74
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Kubota Shunman, Drawing Water from the Well, Japan, 1807', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.422436
(accessed 23 November 2024 17:29:09).