Court Lady with Branch of Plum

…; purchased from the dealer Kunstauktionshaus August Bödiger, Bonn, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1990;¹¹Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 21, cat. no. 26 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

ObjectNumber: RP-P-1991-711

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

A court lady holding a branch of plum blossoms. Another lady kneeling down in front of her, a page-boy partly visible behind the standing lady.

Four poems by Kokoro Fujimaro, from Sendai, Koenro Kiraku, Konanro Yamasumi (but Konando in RP-P-1958-325), and Asakusaan [Ichindo I, 1755-1821, a leader of the Asakusagawa (also known as Tsubogawa)].²²Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 16.

Hokuba collaborated frequently with the Asakusagawa, RP-P-1991-711 being an early example of a commission by individual members instead of a whole club. This print is another such example. Later, more specifically in 1820, 1823 and 1824, he was contracted as a designer for editions appearing under the emblem of this group, which sometimes also operated under the name Tsubogawa.

Issued by followers of the poet Asakusaan Ichindo
Signature reading: Teisai Hokuba ga

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 128

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Teisai Hokuba, Court Lady with Branch of Plum, Japan, c. 1810 - c. 1820', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.377896