Ryūryūkyo Shinsai 柳々居辰斎

This still-life depicts objects commonly found in affluent Japanese homes in the 1700s. Here a few volumes of books, a stenciled cloth, and a potted plant are grouped with a lacquered and painted ornamental box (inro) attached to a carved turtle toggle (netsuke).

Samurai were encouraged to pursue literary studies and civilian arts, and many engaged in connoisseurial activities, collecting finely carved inro and netsuke as well as ornately decorated blue and white porcelain. These surimono prints, produced on thick paper using complex techniques, were most conducive for conveying

the textures of these treasured objects.

The netsuke (sash toggle) in the shape of a turtle in the foreground conveys a wish for long life, while the horse imprinted on the cloth below identifies this surimono as a New Year’s greeting probably made for the year of the horse, 1822.

The netsuke (sash toggle) in the shape of a turtle in the foreground conveys a wish for long life, while the horse imprinted on the cloth below identifies this surimono as a New Year’s greeting probably made for a year of the horse. Other prints in the “horse” group exhibited here have been tentatively dated to 1822, but in this case Shinsai’s death date might point to the previous horse year of 1810.