Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting
height 140 mm × width 185 mm
Katsushika Hôtei Hokuga
Women by a Boat
Japan, c. 1800 - c. 1805
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer C.P.J. van der Peet Japanese Prints, Amsterdam, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1999;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1999
Object number: RP-P-1999-234
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
Context
For general notes on the series, see RP-P-1999-235.
For more on the Seven Gods of Good Fortune or Luck, the Shichifukujin, a popular group of household deities, see RP-P-1962-331.
The artist
Katsushika Hotei Hokuga (d. 1856) was a follower of Katsushika Hokusai, who also used the names Hotei, Mantei and Manjiro. There is an unconfirmed - or at least insufficiently developed - theory that he is identical to Hotei Gosei.
Entry
A woman launches a boat off a riverbank; another woman, somewhat surprised, raises her hands. A manservant behind her beneath the roof of the boat. In the background, a curving dike and people looking out over the water.
Although the boat is roofed, such as those often used by courtesans, these seem to be townswomen on an outing.
No poems.
The God of Luck Jurojin, Juro, from A Series of Seven Gods of Good Fortune, Shichifukujin no uchi.
The print-title is inscribed within a cartouche shaped as a reclining stag, an animal commonly associated with Jurojin, one of the popular Seven Gods of Fortune associated with wisdom. Although the print appears to be in a format common for early 19th-century surimono - moreover, being actually larger than that of RP-P-1999-233 from the same series - there are no poems, as one would expect. This can be explained by the omission of the block with the poetry.
Issued by an unidentified poetry club
Signature reading: Hokuga ga
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 137
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Katsushika Hôtei Hokuga, Women by a Boat, Japan, c. 1800 - c. 1805', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.359190
(accessed 9 January 2025 22:34:19).