Osen of the Kagiya Teahouse at Kasamori Shrine with a View of Nippori in Yanaka
Original title: Osen of the Kagiya Teahouse at Kasamori Shrine with a View of Nippori in Yanaka
kurzbeschreibung
Suzuki Harunobu made this colour woodblock print around 1768, capturing a scene outside a Japanese teahouse. Issued in chuban format at 25.4 by 39.4 cm, it combines ink and colour on paper and presents figures in traditional dress going about their business.
Description
Several figures in Japanese attire fill the foreground: some have settled onto benches, others stand talking in small groups. Behind them opens a landscape of trees and hills, from which a teahouse and a torii gate emerge. A path runs across the grounds, with more people walking along it. Earth tones dominate the palette, offset by accents of blue and green.
Context
The print shows Osen, a beauty well known in her day, who served at the Kagiya teahouse by the Kasamori Shrine in Edo, present-day Tokyo. Harunobu worked in the late Edo period, a phase in which the colour woodblock print flourished. This sheet links the portrait of a locally familiar figure with a view towards the Yanaka district.
Impact
Vivid colours and a wealth of detail give the image an inviting, everyday mood. Crisp outlines and a calm layout produce a harmony and balance that draw the viewer's eye into the activity.
Technique
Cut lines and flat areas of tone carry this chuban woodblock, roughly half the size of a full sheet, printed in ink and colour on paper. Clean contours and closed colour fields, typical of the process, are plainly legible; carving and printing together shape the surface texture of the sheet.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)