Advanced Search 
雁を見る官女（伊勢ヵ）
Court Lady (Lady Ise?) Watching Geese in Spring
雁を見る官女（伊勢ヵ）
Katsukawa Shunshô (Japanese, 1726–1792)
Japanese
Edo period
about early 1780s
Medium/Technique
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Vertical chûban; 25.9 x 19.2 cm (10 3/16 x 7 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.14856
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPrints
Catalogue Raisonné
Katsukawa Shunshô (Ôta Mus. cat., 2016), p. 185, list #241 (no photo)
DescriptionIn spring, as indicated by the cherry blossoms, the geese that have wintered in Japan return to their homes in Siberia for the summer. The most famous poem about geese leaving Japan in the spring is by Lady Ise (about 875-938), and so the figure of a court lady shown here may represent her. However, the poem actually written on the print is by a male courtier, Tsumori no Kunimoto (1023-1102):
Looking like the words/ of a message in pale ink/ brushed across the sky,/ the geese rise into the mist,/ returning to their homeland.
(Usuzumi ni/ kaku tamazusa to/ miyuru kana/ kasumeru sora ni/ kaeru karigane)
津守国基（つもりのくにもと） 治安三～康和四(1023-1102) 号：藤井戸神主
帰る雁をよめる
薄墨にかく玉づさと見ゆるかな霞める空にかへる雁がね（後拾遺71）
Looking like the words/ of a message in pale ink/ brushed across the sky,/ the geese rise into the mist,/ returning to their homeland.
(Usuzumi ni/ kaku tamazusa to/ miyuru kana/ kasumeru sora ni/ kaeru karigane)
津守国基（つもりのくにもと） 治安三～康和四(1023-1102) 号：藤井戸神主
帰る雁をよめる
薄墨にかく玉づさと見ゆるかな霞める空にかへる雁がね（後拾遺71）
Signed
Shunshô ga
春章画
春章画
Marks
No publisher's mark
版元：なし
版元：なし
InscriptionsPoem (by Tsumori no Kunimoto, Goshûi 71): Usuzumi ni/ kaku tamazusa to/ miyuru kana/ kasumeru sora ni/ kaeru karigane
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 - d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)
NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.
NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.