Object data
nishikie, with blindprinting and metallic pigments
height 210 mm × width 173 mm
Hishikawa Sôri
A Brush-maker at Work
Japan, after 1803
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1986;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-642
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
Context
For general notes on the series, see RP-P-1999-235.
The artist
Hishikawa Sori, previously Tawaraya Soji, also used the name Hyakurin, was a pupil of Katsushika Hokusai, who received the name Sori (III) in 1798.
Entry
A brush-maker checks the tip of a brush while a young girl sitting behind him plays with a ball. A pot of brushes in front of the man, next to it a lacquered box, probably containing more brushes.
The Brush-maker, Fudeshi, from the series The Thirty-six Poets as Craftsmen, Shokunin sanjurokkasen.
The original design of 1802 was reprinted as Plate 18 in the Kyoka Album - A Mirror of Craftsmen, Kyoka - Ehon shokunin kagami, of 1803. Impressions such as this in an almost square format are believed to have been printed from the original blocks with the text of the poems re-cut in larger script, much as they had been for the album reissue of 1803. This is a still later reprint.
One poem by Ki—sai Higashi—.
The poem speaks of 'the First Writing of the New Year by the plum tree of Kameido'.
The typically bold calligraphy seen here, identical to that in the album edition of 1803, was written by Kumagawa Kohamatei.
Issued by an unidentified commercial(?) publisher
Signature reading: Sori ga
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 118
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Hishikawa Sôri, A Brush-maker at Work, Japan, after 1803', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.422445
(accessed 23 November 2024 22:30:28).