Courtesan Taking a Break from a Party, Parody of the "Mugen no kane" Scene in the Play Hiragana seisuiki, ca. 1767-68

Details

Suzuki Harunobu (1725?-1770)
Courtesan Taking a Break from a Party, Parody of the "Mugen no kane" Scene in the Play Hiragana seisuiki, ca. 1767-68
Woodcut mitate-e (allusive picture) representing the "Mugen no kane" scene from the play Hiragana seisuiki illustrated by a courtesan on the veranda taking some air from a party in full swing indoors, the silhouettes of a geisha serenading the party guests with a shamisen visible through the white shoji screen, in the garden a stand of yellow kerria (yamabuki), a reed fence and a water basin and scoop, which allude to a temple bell (the legendary Bell of Hell) and striker in the play, the white robe given volume by the technique of impressing only the folds in sunken relief (kimekomi), signed Suzuki Harunobu ga--very good impression, color faded though pink and grey silhouettes appear more vivid, slightly toned across top, lower left corner torn
chuban tate-e: 10 7/8 x 8 3/8in. (27.5 x 21.3cm.)

Literature

Sotheby's, London, Japanese Prints, Illustrated Books, Paintings and Screens and Chinese Paintings, 18 May 1983, lot 5.

Exhibited

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999; "The Max Palevsky Collection of Japanese Woodblock Prints," 2001.2.8-5.15

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Lot Essay

For the impression in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (21.4529), access . For the Vever impression, see Jack Hillier, Japanese Prints and Drawings from the Vever Collection, vol. 1 (London and New York: Philip Wilson Publishers, Rizzoli International and Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1979), pl. 121 and Yamaguchi Keizaburo, Gime Toyo Bijutsukan, Pari Kokuritsu Toshokan Musée Guimet, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, Henri Vever Collection, Huguette Berès Collection, vol. 12 of Ukiyoe shuka (Tokyo: Shogakukan, 1980), pl. 157.

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