Image

Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

Kingfisher and Iris (Hanashobu ni kawasemi), Edo (Japanese period)

Description

Maker

Title

Kingfisher and Iris (Hanashobu ni kawasemi)

Year

Edo (Japanese period)

Medium

ink, color

Materials/Techniques

Dimensions

Image: 33 x 11.4 cm (13 x 4 1/2 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscription verso, bottom left in pencil: X3824 [Japanese Characters]; in a later hand verso, bottom right in pencil: 30[text and poems] Kawasemi ya (translates to) The kingfisher- hane o yoso te (translates to) preening his feathers mizu kagami (translates to) in a mirror of waterKawasemi is a season word (kigo) for summer. The poem also alludes to a man preening himselfbefore meeting a woman symbolized by the iris. Hiroshige employs the same poem on other prints in the collection with similar imagery.

Signature: Signed at right | Hiroshige hitsu

Seals: Artist's seal | Ichiryusai | top; censor's seal | part | trimmed, top margin

Place

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Tokyo

Type

Credit

Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Object Number

34.254

About

Kingfisher and Iris (Hanashobu ni kawasemi)

Inscription verso, bottom left in pencil: X3824 [Japanese Characters]; in a later hand verso, bottom right in pencil: 30[text and poems] Kawasemi ya (translates to) The kingfisher- hane o yoso te (translates to) preening his feathers mizu kagami (translates to) in a mirror of waterKawasemi is a season word (kigo) for summer. The poem also alludes to a man preening himselfbefore meeting a woman symbolized by the iris. Hiroshige employs the same poem on other prints in the collection with similar imagery.

Signature: Signed at right | Hiroshige hitsu

Seals: Artist's seal | Ichiryusai | top; censor's seal | part | trimmed, top margin

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 Kingfisher and Iris (Hanashobu ni kawasemi) with the accession number of 34.254. To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.