Clouds of Prince Genji
Shibata Zeshin (Japanese, 1807-1891)
summer 1885
- Medium
- Color woodblock print; surimono
- Classification
- Dimensions
- 56.5 × 42 cm (22 1/4 × 16 9/16 in.)
- Culture
- Japan
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
- Credit line
- Charles H. Mitchell Collection unrestricted gift
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This print by Shibata Zeshin was commissioned by the poet Hozan. Created two years later than The Cup of Long Life, it also celebrates longevity. Not only is Zeshin’s age prominently displayed (he signed the print: “the 79-year-old Zeshin”) but the occasion for the print is the commemoration of the 70th birthdays of a number of poets in Hozan’s circle. The print’s depiction of summer plants enclosed by stylized cloud banks references Tosa-school gold clouds and classical Genji images. These were favored by 19th-century poets, who saw themselves (if half in jest) as later versions of heroes from the classical age of poetry and sensitivity.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
