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Female Poet, from the series Five Poetic Immortals (Gokasen)


「五歌仙」
Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849)
Japanese
Edo period
about 1823–25 (Bunsei 6–8)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Shikishiban; 20.6 x 18.7 cm (8 1/8 x 7 3/8 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.20419
OUT ON LOAN
On display at Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, September 21, 2024 – January 5, 2025
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné MFA, Hokusai (2013), #124; Dai Hokusai ten (1993), p. 200, surimono #116
DescriptionThe Five Poetic Immortals who served in the court of the empress Shôshi (later Jôtômon'in) are Akazome Emon, Izumi Shikibu, Murasaki Shikibu, Uma no Naishi, and Ise no Ôsuke.
Signed Hokusai aratame Iitsu hitsu
北斎改為一筆
InscriptionsPoems
「はる風にとめ木のかをりさそひ来て きくにゆかしき鶯の声 対山楼 坂上高道」
「花ひらの数にひとしき五つ衣 袖にとめ木ハ梅かゝそする 芍薬亭」
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.