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

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

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Komachi Washing Her Book of Poems

Glossary (4)

mitate, mitate-e, nishiki-e, vegetable pigments

  • mitate

    Mitate, or riddle, is a form of visual and literary parody on a classical theme. It required prior knowledge in order to decipher it.

  • mitate-e

    Mitate-e, or riddle, is a form of visual and literary parody on a classical theme. It required prior knowledge in order to decipher it.

  • 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

    This print is a mitate from a different series of Nana Komachi. In the book at the left top corner with cherry blossom, the same poem by Ono no Komachi is inscribed [see EAX.4436] but the mitate images are different. This derives from the image of Utamaro’s version of Sōshiarai-komachi (1801-3), which illustrates a scene of a mother and a daughter looking at a tenarai-sōshi (booklet of poems). In this print by Eizan a woman leans over the shoulder of another, offering a sōshi book as a substitute for the one she is reading. 

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