…; purchased from the dealer Paul Brandt, Amsterdam, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1982;¹¹Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 38, cat. no. 75 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-460

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

At least seven designs of this series for the New Horse Year have been identified. Although the series-title suggests that it would incorporate famous historical horses (cf., for example, a similarly titled series of surimono designed by Hokkei for the Hyotanren for 1822, A Series of Famous Horses, Meiba bantsuzuki), the designs here are of women engaged in various occupations. As for the Sugawararen, this group seems to have been established only later, e.g. RP-P-1958-515.

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, p. 271. dates the series to the Horse Year 1834, as Shigenobu II would still have been using the name Shigeyama in 1825, only adopting the name Shigenobu after Shigenobu's death in 1833 (cf. RP-P-1991-579). Shigenobu I, however, seems to have initially used the signature 'Toto' ('from the Eastern Capital') Yanagawa Shigenobu when first arriving in Osaka - then a large circular seal reading 'Yanagawa' - and from at least 1824 onwards, the signature 'Reisai' with seal `Yanagawa' (see Crusvar).³³Crusvar, Luisa, Stampe giapponesi dalle collezioni dei Civici Musei di Storia ed Arte di Trieste. Milan: Electa, 1977, p. 51. It is therefore assumed here that Shigenobu II started using the Yanagawa Shigenobu signature on his Edo productions after his teacher decided to remain in Osaka for a while.

For other designs in the series, see:
1: Matsukaze: Woman with buckets on yoke⁴⁴Hillier, Jack R., Japanese Prints and Drawings from the Vever Collection. London: Philip Wilson for Sotheby Parke-Bernet, 1976, p. 797a., MFA 11.20727

2: lchiroku: Woman and girl playing backgammon⁵⁵Kruml, Richard. Surimono, Catalogue 23. London, 1989 (23), p. 77.,⁶⁶Carpenter, John T. (ed.), Reading Surimono: The Interplay of Text and Image in Japanese Prints: With a Catalogue of the Marino Lusy Collection. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2008, p. 236., MFA 11.20732

3: Konoshitakage: Woman sheltering from the rain under a tree - NME, Leiden, 1353-1917a⁷⁷Hillier, Jack R., Japanese Prints and Drawings from the Vever Collection. London: Philip Wilson for Sotheby Parke-Bernet, 1976, p. 797h.,⁸⁸Keyes, 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. 271.,⁹⁹Carpenter, John T. (ed.), Reading Surimono: The Interplay of Text and Image in Japanese Prints: With a Catalogue of the Marino Lusy Collection. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2008, p. 237., MFA 11.20736

4: Usugumo: Two courtesans, one holding a cat - MFA 11.20738

5: Nanryo: Woman on balcony overlooking a bay¹⁰¹⁰Hillier, Jack R., Japanese Prints and Drawings from the Vever Collection. London: Philip Wilson for Sotheby Parke-Bernet, 1976, p. 797e.,¹¹¹¹Carpenter, John T. (ed.), Reading Surimono: The Interplay of Text and Image in Japanese Prints: With a Catalogue of the Marino Lusy Collection. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2008, p. 238., MFA 11.20724

6: Sometsukige: Woman dyeing/stretching cloth¹²¹²Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum. Tokyo kokuritsu hakubutsukan zuhan mokuroku. Ukiyoe hangahen, 3 vols. Tokyo: Tokyo Bijutsu, 1974, p. 3903.,¹³¹³Hillier, Jack R., Japanese Prints and Drawings from the Vever Collection. London: Philip Wilson for Sotheby Parke-Bernet, 1976, p. 797e.,¹⁴¹⁴Polster, Edythe and Alfred H. Marks, Surimono: Prints by Elbow. Washington, D.C.: Lovejoy Press, 1980, p. 355-2.,¹⁵¹⁵Keyes, 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. 272.,¹⁶¹⁶Carpenter, John T. (ed.), Reading Surimono: The Interplay of Text and Image in Japanese Prints: With a Catalogue of the Marino Lusy Collection. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2008, p. 240., MFA 11.20730

A seated woman rubbing ink on an ink-stone, sheets of paper and an open fan in front of her. In the foreground a small case of pigments to be used in her painting.

Number Six: Rubbing Ink, Sono roku – Surisumi, from A Series of Famous Horses, Meibazoroi.

The allusion seems to be to the first painting of the New Year.

Three poems by Shikosha Mimihiko from Kashu, i.e., Kaga Province [not the Edo poet Mimihiko listed in Kano¹⁷¹⁷Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 220.], Chokintei Aoki and Shakuyakutei [Nagane, 1767-1845, earlier Asagi no Uranari. As Sugawara no Nagane, he established his own poetry club, the Sugawararen, publishing from 1826].¹⁸¹⁸Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 160. The second poem, by Aoki, is more directly connected to the representation than the other two. It speaks of the 'first painting of the year' and an 'open fan shaped as Mount Fuji'.

Issued by the Sugawararen(?)
Signature reading: Yanagawa Shigenobu, with seal: Yanagawa

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 374

M. Forrer, 2013, ', Yanagawa (II) Shigenobu, Woman Preparing to Inscribe a Fan, Japan, 1822', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200473163