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Chinese Beauty


唐美人
Totoya Hokkei (Japanese, 1780–1850)
Japanese
Edo period
mid 1820s

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Shikishiban; 20.5 x 18.2 cm (8 1/16 x 7 3/16 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Mrs. Jared K. Morse in memory of Charles J. Morse
Accession Number53.2726
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints
The subject of this print is somewhat mysterious. The “spring wind” mentioned in the poem blows through a Chinese garden decorated with a scenic rock, where a beautiful woman in elaborate Chinese-style clothing sits on a lacquered chair looking into a magnifying mirror. The mirror may be a magical one from a still-unidentified story, or a depiction of the optical marvels believed to be available in foreign countries.

Catalogue Raisonné Keyes, Surimono, Privately Published Japanese Prints in the Spencer Museum of Art, cat. no. 69
Signed Hokkei
北渓
InscriptionsPoem by Shûyôtei Hyakka
Provenance1953, gift of Mrs. Jared K. Morse to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 10, 1953)