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Yashima Gakutei

Court Lady at a Writing Table, possibly 1828

Now On View

Description

Maker

  • Yashima Gakutei, 1786?-1868, Japanese

Title

Court Lady at a Writing Table

Year

possibly 1828

Medium

Polychrome woodblock print

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • ink and color

Techniques

  • wood block,
  • woodcut

Supports

  • paper

Place

Japan

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Prints

Credit

Gift of George Pierce Metcalf

Object Number

56.039.34

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Text, Paratext, and Images

September 1, 2020 - June 19, 2021

These two works show the circulation of text through storytelling, and they present narrating, reading, and writing as signifiers of social status.

At the top of the Persian painting at left, a storyteller captivates his audience with a tale that unfolds in the scene below. The story of the attempted seduction of Joseph by Potiphar’s wife is found in the Qur’an, the Hebrew Torah, and many Muslim storybooks from the 1500s.

In the Japanese print at right, made in the 1800s, a woman dressed in the elaborate garments of an aristocrat from the 1300s sits at a desk with writing utensils, surrounded by books. Besides highlighting the importance of reading and writing, this anachronism signifies the high regard for classical poetry in Edo-era Japanese society.

[see also 17.497]

Women in Japanese Prints

March 5 - May 9, 1993

Japanese Surimono Prints

November 28, 1986 - January 25, 1987

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Court Lady at a Writing Table with the accession number of 56.039.34. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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