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桃の小枝を折り取る男女
Young Man and Woman under a Peach Tree
桃の小枝を折り取る男女
Suzuki Harunobu (Japanese, 1725–1770)
Japanese
Edo period
about 1766 (Meiwa 3)
Medium/Technique
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Vertical chûban diptych; 28.4 x 42.7 cm (11 3/16 x 16 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.19448, 11.19506
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPrints
The next blossoms to appear after the spring plum blossoms were the flowers of the peach. In this beautiful but botanically unrealistic scene, flowers and fruits appear together on the branches gathered by a handsome young couple. There may be a joking reference to an ancient Chinese goddess, the Queen Mother of the West, who guarded magical peaches that could bestow immortality. The first edition of the diptych was a privately printed calendar for the year 1766; it was apparently so successful that this second edition, with calendar information removed, was issued for public sale.
Catalogue Raisonné
Kobayashi, Harunobu taizen (2023), #056; MFA, Suzuki Harunobu (exh. cat., 2017), #77; Waterhouse, The Harunobu Decade (2013), #101-2; Ukiyo-e shûka 4 (1979), list #203.1.3, and supp. 1 (1982), pls. 20-21
DescriptionDiptych: 11.19448 (left), 11.19506 (right)
MFA impressions: 11.19448VR (11.19448, 11.19506; complete diptych), 11.19449 (left sheet only)
MFA impressions: 11.19448VR (11.19448, 11.19506; complete diptych), 11.19449 (left sheet only)
Signed
Unsigned
無款
無款
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.