Young Women Playing Kitsune-ken (Fox Game)
Original title: Young Women Playing Kitsune-ken (Fox Game)
kurzbeschreibung
Suzuki Harunobu's colour woodblock print "Young Women Playing Kitsune-ken (Fox Game)" dates from about 1768–69. Three women in traditional dress sit on the floor, absorbed in the hand game of the title. The sheet is a medium-sized print (chu-ban) in ink and colour on paper.
Description
Three women in Japanese clothing have settled on the floor to play kitsune-ken. One of them holds a small biwa lute. Behind the figures a wooden veranda opens up, and flowering branches — presumably cherry blossom — can be made out along it. Earth tones dominate the palette, enlivened by touches of red and gold. The layout feels balanced: the figures in the foreground, the veranda with its blossoms behind them.
Context
Suzuki Harunobu ranks among the leading masters of the eighteenth-century Japanese colour print (nishiki-e). Kitsune-ken, a popular drinking game, was widespread in the Edo period. Harunobu produced numerous images of women in everyday and playful moments that offer a view into the social life of his time. This sheet belongs to a phase of his career in which he brought multi-colour printing to technical perfection.
Impact
The calm, even arrangement of the figures and the clear lighting give the image a quiet, familiar mood. Delicate lines and restrained colouring produce an elegant, almost ceremonial effect that lends dignity to the playful moment.
Technique
The work was printed as a woodblock in ink and colours on paper. Harunobu used multi-colour printing, in which each colour is assigned its own woodblock and registered precisely over the preceding impressions. The delicate contours and flat areas of colour are characteristic of the nishiki-e technique, which the artist did much to develop.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)