Lot n° 4
Estimation :
6000 - 8000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 32 997EUR
Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770) - Lot 4
Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770)
Chuban tate-e, from the Zashiki hakkei series (座敷八景), Eight Views of the Parlour, Kotoji no rakugan (琴路の落雁), Flight of Geese Descending from the Kotoji.
Circa 1766.
Dim. 28.9 x 21.7 cm
A noblewoman and her follower practice the koto, a traditional Japanese thirteen-string zither. For this series, Harunobu was inspired by the eight poems by Yuensai Teiryū (1654-1734) that reshape the Eight Views of Ōmi, a classical theme evoking the eight famous viewpoints of Lake Biwa east of Kyoto. The environment of this scene is evoked by the instrument, Yuensai Teiryū's poem that inspired this drawing reads as follows:
On the grass called
also lie beads of dew
of dew on the leaves: may
may divine blessings fall
on the sleeve that rubs the koto!
On the instrument between the two women, the koto, are thirteen movable bridges (kotoji) used for tuning, whose inverted "V" shape evokes geese spreading their wings. The grain of the koto wood resembles rippling water, and the image discreetly evokes a flight of geese over a sandy beach. The koto music collections of the following period also allude to this theme. The first song in these collections was always a piece entitled Petasite, mentioned in Teiryū's poem above, which evokes geese in the sky and the melodies of a koto.
References:
This print appeared in the exhibition The Riddles of Ukiyo-e. Women and Men in Japanese Prints 1765-1865, Japan Museum SieboldHuis, Leiden, 2023. Reproduced in the exhibition catalog, pp. 22-23
Similar prints reproduced in :
Chiba City Museum of Art & Hagi Uragami Museum of Art, eds. Seishun no ukiyo-eshi Suzuki Harunobu - Edo no kararisuto tōjō/Suzuki Harunobu, Ukiyo-e artist of the springtime of youth (2002) p. 80
Waterhouse, The Harunobu Decade: A Catalogue of Woodcuts by Suzuki Harunobu and His Followers in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (2013) cat. nr. 126-128
Hillier, Suzuki Harunobu: A Selection of His Color Prints and Illustrated Books. (1970) cat. nr. 28-30
A similar copy in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Accession number 06.1121
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