Little peachling: calendar print for 1765
Suzuki Harunobu, Little peachling: calendar print for 1765, 1765, color woodblock print with embossing on paper; chūban nishiki-e, The Mary Andrews Ladd Collection, public domain, 32.93
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Little peachling: calendar print for 1765
- Related Titles
alternate; original language: 見立桃太郎
alternate; translated: A Parody of the Tale of Momotarō
alternate; transliterated: Mitate Momotarō
- Artist
- Related People
- Date
1765
- Period
Japan: Edo period (1615-1868)
- Medium
color woodblock print with embossing on paper; chūban nishiki-e
- Edition
no other known impressions
- Catalogue Raisonné
Ukiyoe shūka v. 9, fig. 11
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
image/sheet: 8 1/4 in x 11 1/8 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
carver's mark: 関根柯影刻, printed in black, lower right Transliteration (Translation): Sekine Kaei koku (carved [by] Sekine Kaei) Language: Japanese
signature: 鈴木春信画, printed in black, lower right Transliteration (Translation): Suzuki Harunobu ga (picture [by] Suzuki Harunobu) Language: Japanese
seal: □木氏印, printed in red within a square, center right Language: Japanese
signature [patron's signature]: 初考工, printed in black, center right Transliteration (Translation): Shokō kō (conceived [by] Shokō) Language: Japanese Description: Signatures ending in kō 工 ('the work of,' 'thought up by') for Meiwa calendar prints are thought to indicate the amateur poets who commissioned the prints; the signatures are enigmatic and use poetry pseudonyms (like Shokō, here).
- 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
32.93
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
Many of Harunobu's earliest full-color nishiki-e are calendar prints. The publication of calendars was restricted by government edict; nevertheless, 1765 and 1766 saw a boom in privately commissioned images with hidden calendrical markings. Here, numerals for the short months of 1765 appear in the pattern of a young woman’s robe. She emerges from a peach in an allusion to the beloved folk tale about Momotarō, the little Peach Boy. Harunobu's name as designer and that of block carver Sekine Kaei appear at the lower right, while the patron, identified as Shokō, is given credit for conceiving the image. The placement and size of these inscriptions points to the hierarchy of contributors to the final product.
- Exhibitions
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