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Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

Longevity, Chrysanthemums

Maker

Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797–1858, b. in Edo, Japan)

Title

Longevity, Chrysanthemums
from the series Gods of Good Fortune Represented as Flowers (花尽見立福禄寿 Hana Zukushi Mitate Fukurokuju)

Period

Edo Period

Year

1843-1847

Medium

Polychrome woodblock print (nishiki-e)

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Polychrome woodblock print (nishiki-e)

Materials

ink and color

Supports

paper

Geography

Place Made: Japan

Dimensions

Uchiwa-e on horizontal aiban: 23.6 x 30.3 cm (9 5/16 x 11 15/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscription Text/Poem: 名翁草といへるも本の寿命永きをいへり慈童ハ此水を汲て七百歳をたもち漢の閻明是を愛す

Signature: 廣重画 Hiroshige ga (Pictured by Hiroshige)

Seals: Censor's seal: 田中 Tanaka (Tanaka Heishiro)

Marks: On verso, at bottom right in pencil: Russel #40[text and poems]

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Object Number

34.305

Type

Prints

Exhibition History

Of Clover and Chrysanthemum

Autumn Themes in Japanese Woodblock Prints

Sep 01, 2010 – Dec 12, 2010

Label copy

The text inscription on the upper right of the fan remarks on the alternate name of the chrysanthemum, okinagusa (old man plant). This name is associated with the legend of Kikujido (the Chrysanthemum Boy), a Chinese boy exiled from the imperial court, sipped the dew of a valley filled with chrysanthemums and lived for seven hundred years. The inscription also mentions the famed Chinese poet Tao Qian (365-427) whose name closely associated with chrysanthemums. In Tao’s poem on “Drinking Wine,” there is a famous line about plucking chrysanthemums from the eastern hedge.

Feathers, Flowers, Talons and Fangs

Power and Serenity in Japanese Nature Prints

Feb 02, 2007 – Jun 10, 2007

Of Clover and Chrysanthemums

Autumn Themes on Paper and Cloth

Sep 15, 1995 – Dec 10, 1995

Image 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 and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797–1858, b. in Edo, Japan)

Longevity, Chrysanthemums; from the series Gods of Good Fortune Represented as Flowers (花尽見立福禄寿 Hana Zukushi Mitate Fukurokuju) , 1843-1847

Polychrome woodblock print (nishiki-e)

Uchiwa-e on horizontal aiban: 23.6 x 30.3 cm (9 5/16 x 11 15/16 inches)

Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. 34.305

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