Katsushika Hokusai

A Flower Arrangement

Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan, 1868 - 1912

Provenance

…; collection J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 181, cat. no. 276 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

ObjectNumber: RP-P-1991-474

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

Context

The same three poets are also represented on the print Menoseki from A Series of Horses, Umazukushi, of 1822 (RP-P-1958-289). The first two also appear on the print Takasago from the series A Programme of No Plays, Utai bangumi, designed for the Yomogawa by Kosetsu for 1823 (cf.2Keyes, 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. 219.). There, Bikaro gives Tomigaoka as his residence. According to this print, he lived in Fukagawa District, south of Edo, which could suggest that he was the owner of the Bikaro brothel.

The artist

Biography

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) first studied with Katsukawa Shunsho but later developed his own style. He was occasionally influenced by various other traditions, and designed thousands of calendar prints and surimono from 1787 until about 1810. His surimono production diminished in the 1810s but he resumed his former output between 1321 and 1825. He is best known for his landscape prints of the 1830s.

Entry

As an appropriate illustration of the 'Flower Shell', in which various vases are prepared for flower arrangements, some flowers on a round lacquered tray. A porcelain water pitcher and scissors beside it.

The Flower Shell (Placamen tiara Dillwyn), Hanagai, from the series A Matching Game with the Genroku Poem Shells, Genroku kasen kaiawase.

Three poems by Tatsumi no Sato Bikaro, Chishundo Fukuyoshi, and Kyokado [Yomo no Utagaki] Magao [1753-1829, Shikatsube Magao, pupil of Yomo Akara. Used the name ‘Yomo’ from 1796, when he became a judge of the Yomogawa].3Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 2141.

All three poems refer to collecting shells at low tide.

Meiji-period (1868-1912) facsimile of a surimono issued by the Yomogawa.
Signature reading: Getchirojin Iitsu hitsu

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 230

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Katsushika Hokusai, A Flower Arrangement, Japan, 1868 - 1912', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.504038

(accessed 19 July 2025 09:18:52).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 181, cat. no. 276
  • 2Keyes, 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. 219.
  • 3Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 2141.