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In the Shell-matching Game, Some People Do Not Notice What Is in Front of Them But Look Around Instead ... (Kai o ôu hito no waga mae naru o ba okite yoso o miwatashi), from the series Essays in Idleness (Tsurezure-gusa)


「つれ/\草」 「貝をおほふ人の我まへなるをはをきてよそを見わたし」
Totoya Hokkei (Japanese, 1780–1850)
Japanese
Edo period
about 1831–2 (Tenpô 2–3)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Shikishiban; 19.8 x 17.8 cm (7 13/16 x 7 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.25460
ClassificationsPrints

In the shell-matching game, clamshell halves are scattered and matched according to paintings or poems inscribed on them. This shell depicts an episode from the Ukifune (“Drifting Boat”) chapter of The Tale of Genji, where two lovers elope by boat just before dawn. The scene of the boat drifting in the light of the moon is inspired by earlier painting tradition. According to the quotation, some players of the game make the mistake of looking carefully at the shells farthest from them while ignoring those close at hand.

Description... and so of course they lose the game when the shells before their eyes are claimed by other players.
From section 171 of Tsurezuregusa (a collection of essays by Kenkô, written in the early 1330s).
Commissioned by the Manjiren poetry circle.
Signed Hokkei
北渓
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.