Image

Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

Ayu fish and hydrangea (Ajisai ni ayu), Edo Period

Description

Maker

Title

Ayu fish and hydrangea (Ajisai ni ayu)

Year

Edo Period

Medium

ink, color

Materials/Techniques

Dimensions

Image: 23.3 x 17.5 cm (9 3/16 x 6 7/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscription verso, bottom right in pencil:X2977/[Japanese Characters][text and poems] ajisai ni ayu (title); poem: Ajisai ya/asagi ni shibashi/yo o bakasuA myriad of hydrangeas-light blue for awhileMasses of hydrangeas literally "filling the world" (yo o bakasu) are an astonishing sight. The phrase also has the meaning of "to cheat." Hydrangeas change color from the time they first bloom to their height. So too can a person (likely a courtesan likened to the opulent flower) change one's mind in the midst of an assignation or affair. 34.240/K90

Signature: Signed on each | Hiroshige hitsu

Seals: Publisher's seal | Sei ~ in circle; censor's seal | kiwame

Place

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Tokyo

Type

Credit

Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Object Number

34.349B

About

Ayu fish and hydrangea (Ajisai ni ayu)

Inscription verso, bottom right in pencil:X2977/[Japanese Characters][text and poems] ajisai ni ayu (title); poem: Ajisai ya/asagi ni shibashi/yo o bakasuA myriad of hydrangeas-light blue for awhileMasses of hydrangeas literally "filling the world" (yo o bakasu) are an astonishing sight. The phrase also has the meaning of "to cheat." Hydrangeas change color from the time they first bloom to their height. So too can a person (likely a courtesan likened to the opulent flower) change one's mind in the midst of an assignation or affair. 34.240/K90

Signature: Signed on each | Hiroshige hitsu

Seals: Publisher's seal | Sei ~ in circle; censor's seal | kiwame

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Tokyo

Related

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Ayu fish and hydrangea (Ajisai ni ayu) with the accession number of 34.349B. To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.