Bamboo Leaf with Kombu, Burdock Root and Heavenly Bamboo

Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), 1812

All these plants are associated with prosperity for the New Year. Like burdock root, the dark kombu (a kind of seaweed) is an ingredient in special New Year’s tea. The ‘heavenly bamboo’ branches with berries are used in New Year’s decorations. This surimono was originally much larger, but unfortunately the poems were cut off in the past.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono
  • Object numberRP-P-1991-676
  • Dimensionsheight 103 mm x width 182 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with blindprinting

Discover more

more by Kubota Shunman

Five Cranes

Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), c. 1816

Five Cranes

Vier vlinders

after print by Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), c. 1880 - c. 1900

Vier vlinders

Pioenrozen en irissen

after print by Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), c. 1890 - c. 1900

Pioenrozen en irissen

A Lacquer Bowl

Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), c. 1815 - c. 1820

A Lacquer Bowl

Lobster and Shells

Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), c. 1800 - c. 1805

Lobster and Shells

Rotsen, golven en de opkomende maan

after print by Kubota Shunman (mentioned on object), c. 1890

Rotsen, golven en de opkomende maan

Kubota Shunman

Still Life of Various Vegetables

Japan, 1812

Inscriptions

  • stamped on verso with mark of Theodor Scheiwe

Provenance

…; collection Theodor Scheiwe (1897-1983), Münster (collector's mark);…; purchased from the dealer C.P.J. van der Peet Japanese Prints, Amsterdam, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1991;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 50, cat. no. 108 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-676

Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse

The artist

Biography

Kubota Shunman (1757-1820), popularly called Kubo Shunman, was a pupil of Kitao Shigemasa who was also strongly influenced by Torii Kiyonaga and Katsukawa Shuncho. He created an attractive blend of the various ideals of feminine beauty prevalent in his time. He also used the art name Shosado. In addition to designing prints and making paintings, he was a poet and a writer and ran a studio that produced surimono. It was probably in this capacity that he introduced some of the innovations of the mid-Bunka period (1809-13), exploring the concept of large series of shikishiban surimono.

Entry

Berries, burdock and a bunch of young leeks on a bamboo leaf.

This design, originally part of a much larger yokonagaban surimono of c. 440 x 520-570 millimetres was apparently trimmed down to approximately the small horizontal format common in the early 1800s, probably in a successful attempt to reduce it to an image by removing the poetry. A copy of the full print has been preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale albums in Paris.

'Long surimono', as they are often called, generally served as invitations or announcements of theatrical performances for special invitees only. The programme was printed on the overleaf, the sheet being folded lengthwise, resulting in two halves each some 22 centimetres high. Quite often, the half containing the text was trimmed off and discarded, probably in an attempt to make them more appealing to Western buyers.

Poems trimmed off.

Issued by the Gomeiren
Seal reading: Shunman
Produced by the Shunman Studio

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 82

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Kubota Shunman, Still Life of Various Vegetables, Japan, 1812', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200415812

(accessed 10 December 2025 17:17:57).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 50, cat. no. 108