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Liu Bang Kills the White Serpent (Ryûhô hakuja o kiru)


「劉邦斬白蛇」
Totoya Hokkei (Japanese, 1780–1850)
Japanese
Edo period
1832 (Tenpô 3)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Shikishiban; 21.1 x 18.5 cm (8 5/16 x 7 5/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.19816
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Carpenter et al, Reading Surimono (2008), #125; Keyes, Art of Surimono (Chester Beatty cat., 1985), vol. 1, #142; Keyes, Surimono (Spencer Museum cat., 1984), cat. no. 81, pl. 19; Polster & Marks, Surimono (1980), p. 185
DescriptionPoem translated in Carpenter et al 2008, p. 248; Keyes 1985, vol. 1, p. 173; and Keyes 1984, p. 60.
Signed Nansô tôka (drawn by lamplight in southern Kazusa Province [modern Chiba]) Hokkei ga
InscriptionsPoem by Seiyôken Umeyo: Fusu tatsu no/ kumo akeharau/ harukaze ni/ miyako no sora no/ hatsuhi nodokeshi
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.