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Display of Kimono, Obi, and Smoking Chest

After Artist Totoya Hokkei 1780–1850 (Japanese, Hokusai, 1780–1850)
Artist Unknown
Culture Japanese
Title Display of Kimono, Obi, and Smoking Chest
Date 1819
Medium Color woodblock print on paper
Dimensions Overall: 8 5/16 x 7 1/8 in. (21.1 x 18.1 cm)
Credit Line Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 70.4.288

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About this Work

The double cartouche in the upper left contains the characters for the Mutsugawa Poetry Group and the title of the eleventh-century book, Makura no Sōshi. It was written by the court lady Sei Shōnagon who was known for her witty—and sometimes biting— commentary on court life. The poem is preceded by a heading derived from the book—“Unsuitable things: Women gathering to take delight in omens”—which gives the print additional literary cachet.

Poem:

If peaks in the direction
Of Mt. Fuji and Mt. Tsukuba
Are now blanketed in mist
It is then better that I don’t
Sleep in such robes
—Ittei Hajime


Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Display of Kimono, Obi, and Smoking Chest | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2024. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=70.4.288