Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

Kingfisher and Viburnum, Edo Period

Maker

Title

Kingfisher and Viburnum

Year

Edo Period

Medium

ink and colors

Materials/Techniques

Dimensions

Chūtanzakuban: 35.4 x 11.4 cm (13 15/16 x 4 1/2 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscription Text/Poem: 川蝉の　羽を粧ふて　水かゝみ
Translation: The kingfisher preening his feathers in a mirror of water

*The poem also alludes to a man preening himself before meeting a woman symbolized by the iris. Hiroshige employs the same poem on other prints in the collection with similar imagery.
**Kawasemi is a season word (kigo) for summer.

Signature: Signed at lower right: 広重筆 Hiroshige hitsu (Brushed by Hiroshige)

Seals: Publisher's seal: 川正 Kawasho (Kawaguchiya Shōzō) ; Censor's seal: 極 kiwame

Marks: On verso, top left: 3994/Hiroshige/20[m] [Hy ez];in a later hand verso, bottom left: 215/9; in another hand verso, bottom right: 208

Place

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

Type

Credit

Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Object Number

34.157

Kingfisher and Viburnum

Inscription Text/Poem: 川蝉の　羽を粧ふて　水かゝみ
Translation: The kingfisher preening his feathers in a mirror of water

*The poem also alludes to a man preening himself before meeting a woman symbolized by the iris. Hiroshige employs the same poem on other prints in the collection with similar imagery.
**Kawasemi is a season word (kigo) for summer.

Signature: Signed at lower right: 広重筆 Hiroshige hitsu (Brushed by Hiroshige)

Seals: Publisher's seal: 川正 Kawasho (Kawaguchiya Shōzō) ; Censor's seal: 極 kiwame

Marks: On verso, top left: 3994/Hiroshige/20[m] [Hy ez];in a later hand verso, bottom left: 215/9; in another hand verso, bottom right: 208

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

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 Kingfisher and Viburnum with the accession number of 34.157. To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.