Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

Barn Swallows and Peach Blossoms under Full Moon (Tsukiyo momo ni tsubame), Edo Period

Maker

Title

Barn Swallows and Peach Blossoms under Full Moon (Tsukiyo momo ni tsubame)

Year

Edo Period

Medium

ink, color

Materials/Techniques

Dimensions

Image: 36.2 x 18.1 cm (14 1/4 x 7 1/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signature: Signed at left | Hiroshige hitsu

Inscription verso top right: 15.22; in a later hand: 1712; in a another hand inscribed verso, bottom right: [M].222

Chinese poem:
Spring has come and/peach blossoms float in all the streams/how impossible to determine where utopia is

Seals: Artist's seal | Ichiryûsai; publisher's seal | Wakasaya Yoichi (Waka); censor's seal | kiwame; two seals that appear to the left of the poem may belong to the poet or may be an allusion to the poem | possible reading "Un Shin"

Identification

State

This appears to be the first state of the print with publisher's mark and kiwame mark (see Bogel) and among the finest known impressions. A later state lacks these seals and does not have pink and black branches, rather branches all black. The breasts of the birds are also printed in pink, not black. A third state has less crisp printing and the publisher's mark of Sanoya Kihei (Kikakudô).

Place

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Edo (location)

Type

Credit

Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Object Number

34.286

Barn Swallows and Peach Blossoms under Full Moon (Tsukiyo momo ni tsubame)

Signature: Signed at left | Hiroshige hitsu

Inscription verso top right: 15.22; in a later hand: 1712; in a another hand inscribed verso, bottom right: [M].222

Chinese poem:
Spring has come and/peach blossoms float in all the streams/how impossible to determine where utopia is

Seals: Artist's seal | Ichiryûsai; publisher's seal | Wakasaya Yoichi (Waka); censor's seal | kiwame; two seals that appear to the left of the poem may belong to the poet or may be an allusion to the poem | possible reading "Un Shin"

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Edo (location)
This appears to be the first state of the print with publisher's mark and kiwame mark (see Bogel) and among the finest known impressions. A later state lacks these seals and does not have pink and black branches, rather branches all black. The breasts of the birds are also printed in pink, not black. A third state has less crisp printing and the publisher's mark of Sanoya Kihei (Kikakudô).

Publications

Exhibition History

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Barn Swallows and Peach Blossoms under Full Moon (Tsukiyo momo ni tsubame) with the accession number of 34.286. To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.