Collection
Utagawa KUNISADA
(Japan 1786–1865)
Andô/Utagawa HIROSHIGE
(Japan 1797–1858)
- Title
- Garden in snow
- Other titles:
- "Yuki no niwa" (Garden scene in snow)
- Alternative title:
- Yuki no niwa: Azuma Genji
- Place of origin
-
Japan
- Period
- Edo (Tokugawa) period 1615 - 1868 → Japan
- Year
- 1854
- Media category
- Materials used
- triptych; colour woodblock print
- Dimensions
-
r. 36.4 x 25.0cm; m. 36.0 x 25.6cm; l. 36.1 x 25.6cm:
a - Part a; 36.4 x 25cm
b - Part b; 36 x 25.6cm
c - Part c; 36.1 x 25.6cm
- Credit
- Yasuko Myer Bequest Fund 2007
- Accession number
- 288.2007.a-c
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
This fine triptych depicts Prince Genji and Lady Asagao watching three young girls making a snow rabbit on a moonlit winter’s night. The scene illustrates the chapter “Asagao” from the most famous novel of Japanese literature,'The Tale of Genji', written by the court lady Murasaki Shikibu in the 11th century.
This triptych is a cooperative work by the two most prolific 'ukiyo-e' artists of the day, Utagawa Kunisada I and Andô Hiroshige I: Kunisada was responsible for the figures while Hiroshige was in charge for the background landscape. Kunisada was the protagonist in the production of 'Genji-e', having illustrated hundreds of volumes of woodblock printed books and designed countless series of single prints, but joint works with Hiroshige were rather few in number. This triptych belongs to a small group of such cooperative works, of which today only a handful are extant.
"Genji pictures" ('Genji-e') became very fashionable after the publication of Ryûtei Tanehiko's novel "Nise Murasaki Inaka Genji" (published as series between 1828 to 1842) - a parody of the classical tale set in the Muromachi period, and the subsequent adaptations as Kabuki plays.
Asian Art Department, AGNSW, August 2007.
- Bibliography (5)
-
Kyoko Hatakeyama and Craig Freedman, Snow on the pine: Japan's quest for a leadership role in Asia, Singapore, 2010, front cover (colour illus.), back cover (colour illus.), spine (colour illus.), iii (illus.). The colour illus. on the spine is a detail of this work.
Jill Sykes (Editor), Look Feb 2009, Newtown, Feb 2009, 48 (colour illus.). The colour illus. on page 48 is a detail of this work.
Gary Hickey, Genji - the world of the Shining Prince 2008, 'Genji in the 'Floating World', pgs. 30-41., Sydney, 2008, 2-3 (colour illus.), 37 (colour illus.). fig. 19. The colour illus. on pg. 2-3 is a detail of this work.
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales Annual Report 2007-08 2008, Sydney, 2008, 28 (colour illus.).
Jill Sykes (Editor), Look Nov 2008, Newtown, Nov 2008, cover (colour illus.), 9 (colour illus.). The colour illus. on the cover is a detail of this work
