Hibun (A Secret Missive)
Suzuki Harunobu, Hibun (A Secret Missive), 1767/1768, color woodblock print with embossing on paper; chūban nishiki-e, The Mary Andrews Ladd Collection, public domain, 32.78
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Hibun (A Secret Missive)
- Related Titles
alternate; original language: 秘文
alternate; transliterated: Hibun
catalog entry; descriptive: A secret missive
- Artist
- Date
1767/1768
- Period
Japan: Edo period (1615-1868)
- Medium
color woodblock print with embossing on paper; chūban nishiki-e
- Catalogue Raisonné
Ukiyoe shūka v. 9, pl. 87; Waterhouse 2013, 226-227
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
image/sheet: 10 1/2 in x 7 15/16 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
signature: 春信画, printed in black relief, lower right Transliteration (Translation): Harunobu ga (picture [by] Harunobu) Language: Japanese
- Collection Area
Asian Art; Graphic Arts
- Category
Prints
Japanese Traditional Prints
- Object Type
relief print
- Culture
Japanese
- Credit Line
The Mary Andrews Ladd Collection
- Accession Number
32.78
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
Lovers are often implied in Harunobu's designs. Here a young woman, casually dressed, stands on an upper balcony. She clutches a letter close to her face, reading by the light of a hanging lamp. Her soft brown kimono, which may have originally been a muted purple, has a design of deer antlers on the sleeves. In Japanese poetry, the cry of the deer was invariably associated with the stag calling for his mate in autumn. Her clothing motifs reinforce both the seasonal theme, set by the red maple leaves in the garden, and the implication of a lover as the source of the missive.
- Exhibitions
1999 Three Centuries of Japanese Prints from the Museum's Collections Portland Art Museum
2011 The Artist's Touch, The Craftsman's Hand: Three Centuries of Japanese Prints from the Portland Art Museum Portland Art Museum
2018 Suzuki Harunobu and the Culture of Color Portland Art Museum