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The Great Tengu Does Calligraphy (Sho no dai tengu), A Nose-pulling Contest with an Elephant (Zô no hanabiki), from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)


狂斎百図 「書の大天狗 象の鼻引」
Kawanabe Kyôsai (Japanese, 1831–1889)
Publisher: Wakasaya Yoichi (Jakurindô) (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
1863 (Bunkyû 3), 5th month

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical yotsugiri (quarter ôban); 18.7 x 12.7 cm (7 3/8 x 5 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.36972
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Kaikan sanjû shûnen kinen Kawanabe Kyôsai kinen bijutsukan cat. (2008), p. 103, #0790 (sheet of 4)
DescriptionMFA impressions:
Uncut sheet: 11.45393.7
Right side only: 11.36972, 11.45800.31
Left side only: 11.37022

See also: 11.5380, a tsuba based on the right-hand design.
Signed Kyôsai
狂斎
Marks Censor's seal: Boar 5 aratame
No blockcutter's mark
改印:亥五改
彫師:なし
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850–d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 19, 2005)

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.