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 with a cup of tea

  • Literature notes

    Bust Portrait. A girl in a pink kimono is looking to her right holding a cup with chrysanthemum pattern in her right hand. The motif Misokoshi-gōshi (basket check style) of pink check contrasting with a brown stripe was chic in the Edo period. She is probably waiting for her tea to cool down while she demonstrates strong emotion as detected from her pursed mouth and her dishevelled hair. Having hot tea and putting her left hand inside her kimono perhaps implies it is late autumn or early winter.

    The colours in this print have faded slightly.

    This appears to be the only recorded copy of this print. The cup was originally blue and white.
  • Details

    Associated place
    AsiaJapanHonshūKantōTōkyō prefecture Tōkyō (place of creation)
    AsiaJapanHonshūKantōTōkyō prefecture Tōkyō (place of publication)
    Date
    1796 - 1812
    Artist/maker
    Kitagawa Utamaro (c. 1753 - 1806) (designer)
    Associated people
    Tsuruya Kiemon (c. 1720 - 1875) (publisher)
    Material and technique
    nishiki-e (multi-block) woodblock print, printed with water-based vegetable pigments
    Dimensions
    mount 55.8 x 40.5 cm (height x width)
    print 38 x 25.6 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.4111
  • Further reading

    Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 24 August-30 November 2005, Beauties of the Four Seasons, Mitsuko Watanabe, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2005), no. 14 on p. 28, illus. p. 29

Glossary (2)

nishiki-e, vegetable pigments

  • nishiki-e

    Nishiki-e literally means 'brocade pictures' and refers to multi-coloured woodblock prints.

  • 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

    Bust Portrait. A girl in a pink kimono is looking to her right holding a cup with chrysanthemum pattern in her right hand. The motif Misokoshi-gōshi (basket check style) of pink check contrasting with a brown stripe was chic in the Edo period. She is probably waiting for her tea to cool down while she demonstrates strong emotion as detected from her pursed mouth and her dishevelled hair. Having hot tea and putting her left hand inside her kimono perhaps implies it is late autumn or early winter.

    The colours in this print have faded slightly.

    This appears to be the only recorded copy of this print. The cup was originally blue and white.
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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