Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Beauties of the Four Seasons

A full catalogue of the Ashmolean’s collection of Japanese bijinga (beautiful women) prints by Mitsuko Watanabe (published Oxford, 2005).

Beauties of the Four Seasons by Mitsuko Watanabe

Publications online: 54 objects

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A lady hanging a scroll for the New Year

  • Literature notes

    A lady has just opened a box of scrolls and she is hanging one of them depicting a bamboo. In front of her lies some kagami-mochi (round rice cakes offered to the god) with a red lobster and a young pine tree, traditional New Year decorations. The flying crane design of her kimono symbolizes long life and auspiciousness. On the lid of the box is written 'Kanō-sai ga' and 'sampuku' which means three pieces painted by Kanō-sai.

    Before the reform of the calendar, Japanese New Year was in Spring.
  • Details

    Series
    Activities of the Twelve Months
    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    c. 1783
    Artist/maker
    Torii Kiyonaga (1752 - 1815) (designer)
    Material and technique
    woodblock, printed with water-based vegetable pigments
    Dimensions
    mount 81 x 28.6 cm (height x width)
    print 68 x 11.5 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by Mrs Allan and Mr and Mrs H. N. Spalding, 1952.
    Accession no.
    EAX.4077
  • Further reading

    Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 24 August-30 November 2005, Beauties of the Four Seasons, Mitsuko Watanabe, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2005), no. 6 on p. 12, illus. p. 13

Glossary

vegetable pigments

  • vegetable pigments

    Vegetable pigments were used to create coloured dyes for Japanese prints, paintings, and textiles. These pigments often faded over time due to the chemical reactions they underwent.

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • Beauties of the Four Seasons by Mitsuko Watanabe

    Beauties of the Four Seasons

    A lady has just opened a box of scrolls and she is hanging one of them depicting a bamboo. In front of her lies some kagami-mochi (round rice cakes offered to the god) with a red lobster and a young pine tree, traditional New Year decorations. The flying crane design of her kimono symbolizes long life and auspiciousness. On the lid of the box is written 'Kanō-sai ga' and 'sampuku' which means three pieces painted by Kanō-sai.

    Before the reform of the calendar, Japanese New Year was in Spring.
Notice

Object information may not accurately reflect the actual contents of the original publication, since our online objects contain current information held in our collections database. Click on 'buy this publication' to purchase printed versions of our online publications, where available, or contact the Jameel Study Centre to arrange access to books on our collections that are now out of print.

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