Shibata Zeshin
Japanese, 1807-1891
The Cup of Long Life
INV-4372
Shibata Zeshin
Japanese, 1807-1891spring 1883
The Cup of Long Life
Shibata Zeshin Japanese, 1807-1891 →Japanese (culture or style)woodblock printprint
Date
spring 1883
Medium
Color woodblock print; surimono
Dimensions
57.4 × 43.3 cm (22 5/8 × 17 1/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Charles H. Mitchell Collection unrestricted gift
This colorful print shows an engraved black-lacquer box and a red-lacquer sake cup with myriad characters. The box is inscribed “long life sake cup,” and the cup is covered with the many different versions of the character for “long life” (kotobuki). There were traditionally 100 variations of this character, emphasizing this number as the ultimate in longevity.
The host of this print was the poet, author, and essayist Kameda Hozan. Many examples of large-scale surimono by Shibata Zeshin exist; he must have set up a large establishment in order to cater to orders from poets and intellectuals. Since Zeshin was engaged in many official commissions in other media and had a large group of apprentices, he probably left most of the details of surimono production to his apprentices.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
Komurasaki of the Miuraya and Shirai Gompachi (Miuraya Komurasaki, Shirai Gompachi)
Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿 Japanese, c.1753-1806
Hamamatsu, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
Mitsuke: Ferries Crossing the Tenryu River (Mitsuke, Tenryugawa funawatashi), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
