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Chrysanthemums at Somei in Tokyo (Tôkyô Somei kiku), from the series Thirty-six Selected Flowers (Sanjûrokkasen)


「三十六花撰 東京 染井きく」
Utagawa Hiroshige II (Shigenobu) (Japanese, 1826–1869)
Publisher: Tsutaya Kichizô (Kôeidô) (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
1866 (Keiô 2), 7th month

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban; 36.8 x 23.7 cm (14 1/2 x 9 5/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.37254
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints
The part of Edo (modern Tokyo) best known for its nurseries was the area called Somei, not far from Ueno. In the fall, many varieties of chrysanthemums were offered for sale. The rarest varieties are protected by a typical blue-and-white checked canopy roof, while a heartier wild variety grows in an open bed nearby. The combination of an extreme close-up and a more distant landscape view beyond it was a compositional device that Hiroshige II learned from his distinguished teacher, Hiroshige I.

DescriptionNo. 32 in the series.

MFA impressions: 01.7335.33, 11.37254
Signed Risshô
立祥
Marks Censor's seal: Tiger 7 aratame
No blockcutter's mark
改印:寅七改
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.