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Cat with Head in Bag (above); Cats Attacking Mice (below); from the series The War of Cats and Mice (Neko nezumi kassen)


「猫鼠合戦」
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (Japanese, 1839–1892)
Publisher: Enshûya Hikobei (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
1859 (Ansei 6), 9th month

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Two horizontal chûban on uncut vertical ôban sheet; 37.1 x 25.8 cm (14 5/8 x 10 3/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.37781
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

The artist Yoshitoshi, whose usual specialty was serious depictions of historic warriors, has envisioned the eternal war between cats and mice as a grand epic of battling samurai clans in six small, humorous vignettes. The mice often defeat the cats by such means as frightening them with a large toy dog, trapping them in paper snack bags, or stealing food while the cat on watch dozes off.

Catalogue Raisonné Newland, Yoshitoshi (2011), p. 157, list #1
DescriptionThree prints from the set, possibly a triptych: 11.37779, 11.37780, 11.37781
Signed Yoshitoshi giga (above), Ikkaisai Yoshitoshi giga (below)
芳年戯画 一魁斎芳年戯画
Marks Censor's seal: Goat 9 aratame
No blockcutter's mark
改印:未九改
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.