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  • A woodblock print of a seated woman. She wears a rich black robe embellished in metallic floral patterns and holds a round lute. Poems are inscribed above the image.

Kōitsu

Woman with a Moon Lute

Maker

Kōitsu (Active in Osaka, Japan

Culture

Edo

Title

Woman with a Moon Lute

Period

Edo (Japanese period)

Year

1827-1828

Medium

  • Polychrome woodblock print with embossing and metallic pigments

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Polychrome woodblock print with embossing and metallic pigments

Materials

ink and color

Supports

  • paper

Geography

Origin: Japan

Dimensions

Shikishiban: 21.3 x 18.9 cm (8 3/8 x 7 7/16 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of George Pierce Metcalf

Object Number

56.039.83

Type

  • Prints

Exhibition History

Striking Chords
Music in *Ukiyo-E* Prints
Feb 05, 2022 – Jul 31, 2022

Label copy

In this delicately embossed and sumptuously embellished print, a seated woman cradles a moon lute (gekkin), her tasseled pick beside her. Such deluxe prints, known as surimono, were privately commissioned, and often sponsored by poetry groups. In this work, the nested-crane pattern repeated on the woman’s sash (obi) depicts the emblem of the Crane poetry group (Tsuru-gawa) led by Osaka poet Tsurunoya Osamaru (ca. 1751-1839). The three inscribed poems allude to songs accompanied by the moon lute, further revealing how text and image work together in these sophisticated prints.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7TcBMw98Fc

Marking the Occasion
Surimono from Edo and Osaka
Sep 15, 2000 – Dec 03, 2000
Surimono
Selections from the Japanese Print Collection
Jun 09, 1998 – Sep 08, 1998

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Kōitsu (Active in Osaka, Japan
1818-1831)
Woman with a Moon Lute, 1827-1828
Polychrome woodblock print with embossing and metallic pigments
Shikishiban: 21.3 x 18.9 cm (8 3/8 x 7 7/16 inches)
Gift of George Pierce Metcalf 56.039.83

To request 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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