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「夏景色美人合」
A Summer Scene of Beauties (Natsu keshiki bijin awase)
「夏景色美人合」
Japanese
Edo period
1810s
Medium/Technique
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Vertical ôban triptych; 37.2 x 77.4 cm (14 5/8 x 30 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.17917, 11.17965, 11.17966
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPrints
The Japanese word for morning glory is asagao, literally “morning face.” Numerous prints play on the term by comparing the pretty flowers to young women washing their faces and applying makeup in the morning. The beauty at far right rolls reluctantly out of bed just as her friend begins to take down the mosquito net. At the left, an early riser listens to the call of a cuckoo as she brushes her teeth on the veranda beside the morning glories.
Catalogue Raisonné
Hizô Ukiyo-e taikan/Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collections 11, Museo d'Arte Orientale, Genoa, II (1989), pl. 100 (complete triptych); Ukiyo-e taisei 10 (1930), #344 (R only)
DescriptionTriptych: 11.17917 (right), 11.17965 (left), 11.17966 (center)
Signed
Eisen hitsu (on right sheet), Keisai Eisen hitsu (on center and left sheets)
英泉筆 渓斎英泉筆
英泉筆 渓斎英泉筆
Marks
Censor's seal: kiwame
改印：極
改印：極
InscriptionsPoem by Shinshi Kikaku: Asagao no/ saku ya rokugatsu/ hototogisu
朝顔の 咲くや六月 ほととぎす 晋子其角
朝顔の 咲くや六月 ほととぎす 晋子其角
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.