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Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

The Twelfth Month: Making Mochi Cakes (Shiwasu: Mochitsuki), 1854

Description

Maker

Title

The Twelfth Month: Making Mochi Cakes (Shiwasu: Mochitsuki)

Year

1854

Medium

Polychrome woodblock triptych

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Techniques

Supports

Dimensions

Overall: 36 x 74.5 cm (14 3/16 x 29 5/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Toyokuni ga

Place

Japan; Tokyo

Type

Credit

Gift of Marshall H. Gould

Object Number

30.039.5

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Kunisada's Twelve Month Series

October 10, 2008 - February 1, 2009

In this final month of the winter season, preparations for the New Year festivities are underway as five women and a man make rice cakes (mochi) in the kitchen. Auspicious symbols of the coming year appear as small details: the turtle of long life is depicted on the fan of the woman on the left, and gourds, a symbol of good luck, are visible on the sliding screens behind her.

The publisher has included his mark on the lantern on the right as a form of self-advertisement. Similar lanterns appear in the print for The Seventh Month.

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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 The Twelfth Month: Making Mochi Cakes (Shiwasu: Mochitsuki) with the accession number of 30.039.5. 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.