…; purchased from the dealer Bernard Haase, London, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1997;¹¹Coll. cat. Goslings 2004, p. 8, cat. no. 317 by whom donated to the museum, 1999

Object number: RP-P-1999-241

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

Hexaptychs in this format, arranged as two triptychs top and bottom, are rare in Japanese prints. The only other example that comes to mind is a splendid design by Utamaro of a scene above and below a bridge issued by Omiya Gonkuro around the mid-1790s.²²Shibui, Kiyoshi, Ukiyoe zuten, 13: Utamaro. Tokyo: Kazama shobo, 1964, p. 19-1 and 2.

For other sheets of this hexaptych, see:
Top right (unsigned)³³Graupe, Paul, Japansammlung Exz. Solf† Berlin. Farbenholzschnitte, Surimono, Chawan, Netsuke und Kakemono. Berlin /.../ 19.Juni 1936. Berlin: Paul Graupe, 1936, p. 232.,⁴⁴Boisgirard, Claude and Axel de Heeckeren, Très importante collection de 750 surimono, de calendriers, de nagaye, et d’oban. Paris, Drouot, 12?15 décembre 1977. Paris: 1977, p. 89.,⁵⁵Keyes, 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, p. 82., MMA JP3606 and JP3607 (unsigned)

Top centre⁶⁶Graupe, Paul, Japansammlung Exz. Solf† Berlin. Farbenholzschnitte, Surimono, Chawan, Netsuke und Kakemono. Berlin /.../ 19.Juni 1936. Berlin: Paul Graupe, 1936, p. 232. (signed Gakutei),⁷⁷Japanese Prints, Illustrated Books and Paintings /.../ 15 December 1988. London: Sotheby's London, 1988, p. 335. (unsigned)

Top left: MMA JP3606 and JP3607 (unsigned)

Button right (unsigned)⁸⁸Boisgirard, Claude and Axel de Heeckeren, Très importante collection de 750 surimono, de calendriers, de nagaye, et d’oban. Paris, Drouot, 12?15 décembre 1977. Paris: 1977, p. 88.

Bottom centre⁹⁹Graupe, Paul, Japansammlung Exz. Solf† Berlin. Farbenholzschnitte, Surimono, Chawan, Netsuke und Kakemono. Berlin /.../ 19.Juni 1936. Berlin: Paul Graupe, 1936, p. 232. (signed Gakutei),¹⁰¹⁰Boisgirard, Claude and Axel de Heeckeren, Très importante collection de 750 surimono, de calendriers, de nagaye, et d’oban. Paris, Drouot, 12?15 décembre 1977. Paris: 1977, p. 90. (unsigned)

Bottom left¹¹¹¹Boisgirard, Claude and Axel de Heeckeren, Très importante collection de 750 surimono, de calendriers, de nagaye, et d’oban. Paris, Drouot, 12-15 décembre 1977. Paris: 1977, p. 92. (signed Gakutei),¹²¹²Bowie, Theodore, et al.,Art of the Surimono. Bloomington: Indiana University Art Museum, 1979, p. 55. (unsigned), MMA JP1250 (unsigned).

Two men wearing straw hats and boldly patterned coats dancing on a background of vertical golden bands.

Print from the hexaptych A Series of Six Prints for the Katsushika Poetry Club, Katsushika Rokubantsuzuki.

This is the top left sheet of a hexaptych composition, showing men performing the Sparrow dance, Suzume odori. The gold bands and the broad black border supposedly suggest a birdcage: the men are actually caught in a cage. The emblem of the Katsushika poetry club appears on the dancers' coats.

Apparently, there were at least two editions of this design, one with the signature Gakutei on some of the sheets, while the signature is sometimes lacking on the other edition. A signature on the bottom left sheet would normally have sufficed on a design like this.

Two poems by Bunmeisha —maru and Ban—an Toso. Both poems refer to the 'Sparrow dance in Spring'.

This hexaptych composition was issued for the Katsushikaren, a club of poets who usually commissioned designs for their surimono series from Gakutei. However, the poet Amanoya Wakashiba, primarily associated with the Hisakatayaren, also appears to be included among the commissioning poets, as is often the case with editions by the Katsushikaren.

Issued by the Katsushikaren
Unsigned (this sheet)

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 455

M. Forrer, 2013, 'attributed to Yashima Gakutei, Two Dancers, Japan, c. 1827 - c. 1828', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200413486