return to the archive's SURIMONO overview

of items sold in the past

view print

GAKUTEI, Yashima (1786 - 1868)	A Chinese Woman examining a spider's web in a box (surimono for the 'Drum' group)
	Signed:                    Gakutei Sadaoka hitsu Date:                         c.1824 Size:                         shikishiban (21.5 x 19.3 cms) Condition: Fine impression and colors, very good condition, with areas of blind-printing and the use of various metallic pigments. Our impression represents the rare FIRST of three known states(*). Provenance: former Hayashi Tadamasa collection

The lady depicted may be the legendary Chinese princess, Ji Nü, the weaving lady. The exact identification of the lady is uncertain, but the surimono carries a poem about the Tanabata Festival in the seventh month of the year. Ni Jü was a daughter of Tian Di, the Lord of Heaven, and spent her time making clothes for his other children. One day she fell in love with a herdsman and married him. When she neglected her work, however, her father separated the two and they were only allowed to meet one day of the year. Their meeting was celebrated in the Tanabata Festival. (*) This is the rare first state of the surimono, with a light blue sky and a white cloud, with verses by Osaka poets. Second and third states are known. An example of the latter state is shown in the below listed major reference book by Roger Keyes, with a matching left panel forming a dipytch, and a gold-colored sky, as well as the four poems by Osaka poets being replaced by five verses by poets from Edo. Reference:  Roger Keyes, "The Art of Surimono", London, 1985, vol. I,  pp. 111 & 105

   return to the archive's SURIMONO overview                                                                 view print