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The Earth Spider (Tsuchigumo)


土蜘蛛
Utagawa Sadahide (Japanese, 1807–1873)
Japanese
Edo period
1843 (Tenpô 14)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical chûban triptych; 26.4 × 56.3 cm (10 3/8 × 22 3/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.21416, 11.21418, 11.21419
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Nat. Mus. of J. Hist., Nishiki-e wa ika ni tsukurareta ka (2009), #50; Inagaki and Isao, Kuniyoshi no kyôga (1991), p. 199
DescriptionTriptych: 11.21416 (left), 11.21418 (center), 11.21419 (right)

MFA impressions: 11.21416VR (11.21416, 11.21418, 11.21419; complete triptych, showing Earth Spider, with unidentified publisher's mark), 11.21417 (center sheet only, showing demons, without publisher's mark or censor's seal)
Signed Sadahide ga (right and left sheets), Gyokuransai Sadahide ga (center sheet)
貞秀画 玉蘭斎貞秀画
Marks Censor's seal: Muramatsu
No blockcutter's mark
改印:村松
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: 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.