Page-girl Offering Clothes to a Lady

Yashima Gakutei (mentioned on object), c. 1830

Een dienstmeisje zit in geknielde houding voor een hofdame en biedt een opgevouwen kimono aan op een gelakt dienblad. De hofdame houdt een boek vast, naast haar staat een boekenkarretje. Met twee gedichten.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono
  • Object numberRP-P-1991-712
  • Dimensionsheight 211 mm x width 280 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting

Discover more

more by Yashima Gakutei

Pruimenbloesem voor de opgaande zon

Yashima Gakutei (mentioned on object), c. 1825

Pruimenbloesem voor de opgaande zon

Crane Before the Rising Sun

Yashima Gakutei (mentioned on object), c. 1825

Crane Before the Rising Sun

Seated Woman with Pipe

Yashima Gakutei (mentioned on object), c. 1828

Seated Woman with Pipe

De Godin Benten

after print by Yashima Gakutei (mentioned on object), 1868 - 1912

De Godin Benten

Nummer vier: Meisje schrijft gedicht

Yashima Gakutei (mentioned on object), c. 1825

Nummer vier: Meisje schrijft gedicht

A standing Court Lady

Yashima Gakutei (mentioned on object), c. 1828

A standing Court Lady

Yashima Gakutei

Page-girl Offering Clothes to a Lady

Japan, Japan, c. 1830

Inscriptions

  • collector's mark, recto, stamped

Provenance

…; purchased from the dealer Kunstauktionshaus August Bödiger, Bonn, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1990;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 16, cat. no. 15 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-712

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

The artist

Biography

Yashima Gakutei (1786?-1868), a pupil of Totoya Hokkei, was also strongly influenced by Katsushika Hokusai. He used the art-names Harunobu, Sadaoka and Yashima. In addition to his designs for surimono and kyoka collections - he was probably the most prolific designer in this genre – he was also a poet and writer as well as a great Sinologist.

Entry

A page-girl offering a folded kimono on a lacquer tray to a court lady holding a book and seated behind a curtain, a book cart beside her.

This could be an album-leaf rather than a single-sheet surimono, although it should be noted that Suga2Suga, Chikuho, Kyoka shomoku shusei. Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977. lists no folding albums, orihon, by Gakutei.

Two poems by Wagunkyo Nagaki [also Akiyo Nagaki, or Waichien],3Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 160. and Chofuken [Fukunami].

Both poems allude to the sense of 'being wrapped in happiness when putting on the first clothes of the New Year'.

Issued by the poets
Signature reading: Gakutei

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 177

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Yashima Gakutei, Page-girl Offering Clothes to a Lady, Japan, c. 1830', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200415827

(accessed 10 December 2025 08:23:18).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 16, cat. no. 15
  • 2Suga, Chikuho, Kyoka shomoku shusei. Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977.
  • 3Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 160.