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Lot Essay
published:
Azabu Museum of Art, and Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, eds., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihin ten: Azabu bijutsukan shozo/Ukiyo-e Painting Masterpieces in the Collection of the Azabu Museum of Art, introduction by Kobayashi Tadashi, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art; Osaka: Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 1988), pl. 60.
Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, and Japan Institute of Arts and Crafts, eds., Edo no fashon, kaikan kinen ten, Part 1: Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e ni miru onnatachi no yosooi/"Fashion of Edo": Women's dress in Ukiyo-e Paintings, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, 1989), pl. 54.
Dale Carolyn Gluckman, and Sharon Sadako Takeda, When Art Became Fashion: Kosode in Edo-period Japan, exh. cat. (New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill; Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1992), cat. no. 197, color pl. p. 320.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pl. 88.
The inscription was possibly added later in the 18th century when there was a vogue for writing mock Buddhist expressions on ukiyo-e paintings. The text by Shotei (or Matsutei), who is otherwise unknown, is a pastiche of quotations from Buddhist scriptures. It says that while a beautiful image may give rise to human passions, the way to ultimate religious enlightenment is through transcendence of those very passions. To point up this paradox, the author playfully quotes a line from the Heart Sutra (Hannya shingyo): "Form is none other than emptiness; emptiness is none other than form." In this context as in the Takuan quotation on paintings by Keisai (lot 60) and Yukimaro (lot 62), the allusion to the Heart Sutra calls for a more worldly interpretation; the character for "form" (shiki) may also be read as iro, which has the various connotations of "color" or "lust."
Azabu Museum of Art, and Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, eds., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihin ten: Azabu bijutsukan shozo/Ukiyo-e Painting Masterpieces in the Collection of the Azabu Museum of Art, introduction by Kobayashi Tadashi, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art; Osaka: Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 1988), pl. 60.
Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, and Japan Institute of Arts and Crafts, eds., Edo no fashon, kaikan kinen ten, Part 1: Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e ni miru onnatachi no yosooi/"Fashion of Edo": Women's dress in Ukiyo-e Paintings, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, 1989), pl. 54.
Dale Carolyn Gluckman, and Sharon Sadako Takeda, When Art Became Fashion: Kosode in Edo-period Japan, exh. cat. (New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill; Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1992), cat. no. 197, color pl. p. 320.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pl. 88.
The inscription was possibly added later in the 18th century when there was a vogue for writing mock Buddhist expressions on ukiyo-e paintings. The text by Shotei (or Matsutei), who is otherwise unknown, is a pastiche of quotations from Buddhist scriptures. It says that while a beautiful image may give rise to human passions, the way to ultimate religious enlightenment is through transcendence of those very passions. To point up this paradox, the author playfully quotes a line from the Heart Sutra (Hannya shingyo): "Form is none other than emptiness; emptiness is none other than form." In this context as in the Takuan quotation on paintings by Keisai (lot 60) and Yukimaro (lot 62), the allusion to the Heart Sutra calls for a more worldly interpretation; the character for "form" (shiki) may also be read as iro, which has the various connotations of "color" or "lust."