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Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

Duck swimming under snow-laden reeds (Setchu ashi ni kamo)

Description

Maker

After Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797-1858, b. in Edo)

Title

Duck swimming under snow-laden reeds (Setchu ashi ni kamo)

Period

Meiji

Year

ca. 1900

Medium

  • Polychrome woodblock print with embossing

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Polychrome woodblock print with embossing

Materials

ink, color

Supports

  • paper

Geography

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Tokyo

Dimensions

Image: 33.3 x 15.9 cm (13 1/8 x 6 1/4 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

[text and poems] Kamo naku* ya (translates to) A duck calls softly; kaze fukishiwamu* (translates to) a breeze starts ripples moving mizu no omo (translates to) over the water (trans. Marks in Bogel) The Amsterdam cat. below remarks that the cat. of Museo Chiossone (1978, cat. no. 5) says that the poem is a haiku by Sugisaka Hyakumei (b. 1784).* Bogel transcribes the word as "naki" however "naku" is preferable. The word fukishimu is close to the word fukishiwamu which means to play the flute quietly or intently. A synthesis of more literal translations, such as that provided in the Amsterdam cat., can read:A duck cries- the blustering wind ripples the surface of the waterThe Japanese links the "crinkling" or "rippling" to the wind, perhaps to give the sense of the wind blowing this way and that, stirring the water in the process, rather than the sense of blowing onto the wind in one direction to cause the rippling. "Softly" does not appear in Japanese as it does in the Marks translation; the duck's call is evocative of the chill and loneliness although Marks points out that the Japanese does not find the duck's call abrasive. Kamo, duck, is a season word (kigo) of autumn.* transliteration changed from that given by Marks in Bogel

Signature: Hiroshige hitsu

Seals: Artist's seal | Fukuju

Identification

Edition

Edition: Later impressions have the seal of the publisher Sanoya Kihei in place of the artist's seal; this is a Meiji-period facsimile of the original in the collection (34.272)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Franco Preparata

Object Number

1999.81

Type

  • Prints

Related Objects

Related Objects

Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

Duck in Snow (Setchû ashi no kamo), Edo Period

Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

Baikal Teal and Reeds (Ashi ni kamo), Edo (Japanese period)

Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

Baikal Teal and Reeds (descriptive), Edo Period

More objects +

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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

After Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (Japanese, 1797-1858, b. in Edo)
Duck swimming under snow-laden reeds (Setchu ashi ni kamo), ca. 1900
Polychrome woodblock print with embossing
Image: 33.3 x 15.9 cm (13 1/8 x 6 1/4 inches)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Franco Preparata 1999.81

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