…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1985;¹¹Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 58, cat. no. 128 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-568

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

Toyohiro's earliest designs in the surimono (or egoyomi) format date from 1796 (see Keyes²²Keyes, Roger S., The Art of Surimono. Privately Published Japanese Woodblock Prints and Books in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 2 vols. London: Sotheby’s Publications, 1985, pp. 342, 443.). This is a rather playful design by Toyohiro, who often chose scenes from court life or very subdued scenes as subjects for his surimono (see, e.g.,³³Mirviss, Joan B. and John T. Carpenter, Jewels of Japanese Printmaking: Surimono of the Bunka-Bunsei Era 1804-1830 (Amerika no 3 josei ga atsumeta Bunka, Bunsei no shugyoku no surimono). Tokyo: Ota Memorial Museum of Art & Nihon Keizai Shinbun, 2000, pp. 88-9.).

A woman seated by an alcove, tokonoma, with a potted adonis, turns her head to watch a boy pulling a small ox-doll fixed to a wooden plank. In his other hand he holds a toy consisting of a bow with a goldfish attached to the string.

The ox is a reference to the New Ox Year 1805.
Two poems by Tsuchi no Shibahito [or Shibando], and Miyako no Chikae [also Sanshotei no Chikae, earlier Kintaro, a judge of the Yomogawa].⁴⁴Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 129.

Issued by the poets
Signature reading: Toyohiro ga

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 190

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa Toyohiro, A Woman and a Playing Child, Japan, 1805', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200415818