Bamboo Poetry Sheet
Shibata Zeshin (Japanese, 1807-1891)
fall 1860
- Medium
- Color woodblock print; surimono
- Classification
- Dimensions
- 57 × 43 cm (22 1/2 × 16 15/16 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 is an example of the many large-scale surimono that Shibata Zeshin created during the Meiji period (1868–1912). These differ from the smaller surimono in this exhibition in several ways. Smaller surimono usually displayed poetry made by a small group of poets that lived in the same location and belonged to the same group. They also carried a strong seasonal component and were typically created for a specific time of year, such as the New Year, or a significant date for the group, such as a retirement, birthday, or important visitor from afar.
The larger prints retained this seasonal component but took on stronger commemorative roles by including bigger groups of people, sometimes unrelated to the poetry club. In this print, the host is Tchikubai, possibly a poetry teacher with a sizable group of students.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
