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Saruhiki zu
猿曳図
Monkey Trainer
Saruhiki zu
猿曳図
Totoya Hokkei (Japanese, 1780–1850)
Japanese
Edo period
1824 (Bunsei 7) or 1836 (Tenpô 7)
Medium/Technique
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions
Image: 108 x 53.8 cm (42 1/2 x 21 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.7381
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia
ClassificationsPaintings
A trained monkey, a popular form of entertainment, rests playfully on his trainer’s back. Most likely commissioned during the Year of the Monkey, this painting commemorates the 1,600th poetry meeting of the Go-gawa poetry club, whose hourglass-shaped insignia decorates the parasol resting on the ground. Appropriate for such a meeting, the poems of eleven different poets are inscribed in the upper portion of the work.
Catalogue Raisonné
Kajima Foundation MFA cat. 2 (2003), ch. III (Ukiyo-e), no. 422; MFA, Bosuton bijutsukan nikuhitsu ukiyo-e, v. 3 (2000), pl. 83
Signed
(seal only)
Marks
Artist's seal: Hokkei
InscriptionsPoems
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.