Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting
height 201 mm × width 179 mm
Yanagawa Shigenobu (II)
Geisha Playing the Shamisen
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan, c. 1822
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer Bernard Haase, London, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1999;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1999
Object number: RP-P-1999-246
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
Context
This series is typical of those for which the total number of designs is difficult to ascertain. Six designs have been identified thus far, but their titles provide no further clues. As for the Sugawararen, this group seems to have been established only later, see e.g. RP-P-1958-515. As for the other known prints in this series, only Kurobo and Yamabito could be positively identified as a kind of incense.
For other designs of the series, see:
Natsugoromo: Woman drying her ears - NME, Leiden, 1353- 19162,3, MFA 11.20728
Sakakiba: Boy selling paper charms, ofuda, addressing a woman with a baby4, MFA 11.20726
Gyosen: Geisha and attendant by an embankment,5, MFA 20089
Yamabito: Woman standing by a toilet case6,7,8,9, MFA 11.20723
Kiku no tsuyu: Man pouring sake from a large bucket, a woman seated by a large tray10, MFA, 11.20733
Yanagawa Shigenobu II first used the signature Shigeyama also, incorrectly, read as Juzan. After his teacher left for Osaka in late 1821, he started using the signature Yanagawa Shigenobu II, nisei Yanagawa Shigenobu, as here. According to Keyes, however, he only used it after his teacher's death in 1833.11
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 geisha playing the shamisen while another sits in the open window, a plum tree in the garden. Various dishes on a serving tray at left.
Black Incense, Kurobo, from the series A Comparison of Fragrances, Takimono aware.
The incense in the print-title, Black Incense, Kurobo, is associated with Winter and is mentioned in the Tale of Genji, Genji monogatari (early 11th century), written by the Heian-period (794-1185) court lady Murasaki Shikibu (cf. RP-P-2006-108). In the print, however, the allusions are primarily to 'black', in both the kimono worn by the geisha and in the poem by Shakuyakutei.
Three poems by Chokintei Aoki, Shinryutei Harukaze and Shakuyakutei [Nagane, 1767-1845, earlier Asagi no Uranari. As Sugawara no Nagane, he established his own poetry club, the Sugawararen, publishing from 1826].12
All the poems are conventional New Year's poems, the one by Shakuyakutei reading:
There's no way to hide the scent of plums on my black sleeves, unless I hang it in my scented clothing box in the dark of Spring evening.
Issued by the Sugawararen(?)
Signature reading: the second, nisei Yanagawa Shigenobu, with seal: Yanagawa
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 373
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, ', Yanagawa (II) Shigenobu, Geisha Playing the Shamisen, Japan, c. 1822', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.359175
(accessed 21 September 2024 08:44:25).