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Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信

Cat, butterfly and begonias (Kaido ni cho to neko)

Description

Maker

Attributed to Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信 (Japanese, 1724-1770)
Possibly Isoda Koryūsai 礒田湖龍斎 (Japanese, Edo ca. 1764-1788)

Title

Cat, butterfly and begonias (Kaido ni cho to neko)

Period

Edo Period

Year

ca. 1767

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

ink, color

Supports

Geography

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Tokyo

Dimensions

Plate: 28.3 x 21.1 cm (11 1/8 x 8 5/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

White rectangular label affixed verso, bottom right with inscription in pencil:YB142/[Japanese Characters]

Signature: unsigned

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Object Number

34.421

Type

Projects & Publications

Publications

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Feathers, Flowers, Talons and Fangs
Power and Serenity in Japanese Nature Prints
Feb 02, 2007 – Jun 10, 2007
Nature Studies
Early Bird-and-Flower Prints from the Rockefeller Collection
Jun 07, 2002 – Sep 01, 2002

Label copy

The word for cat in Chinese (mao) is a homophone for the word for octogenarian, and the word for butterfly (die) sounds the same as that for a septuagenarian. Thus the combination of the cat and butterflies here conveys the wish that the recipient might live a long life of seventy or eighty years. It is common for the Japanese to borrow such symbolism from the Chinese visual vocabulary.

Use & Feedback

Image use

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This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Attributed to Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信 (Japanese, 1724-1770)
Possibly Isoda Koryūsai 礒田湖龍斎 (Japanese, Edo ca. 1764-1788)
Cat, butterfly and begonias (Kaido ni cho to neko), ca. 1767
Polychrome wood block print with gauffrage
Plate: 28.3 x 21.1 cm (11 1/8 x 8 5/16 inches)
Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. 34.421

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