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Koto from the series The Six Arts in Fashionable Guise
Eishic. 1793-96
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
Chinese classical education consisted of the Six Arts: performing rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics. The Chinese qin, a stringed musical instrument in the zither family, customarily symbolizes the art of music. In this print a similar Japanese instrument, the koto, replaces the qin. The fashionable Japanese entertainer playing it stands in for an accomplished Chinese scholar.
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Details
- Title: Koto from the series The Six Arts in Fashionable Guise
- Creator: Chōbunsai Eishi (Japanese, 1756–1829)
- Date Created: c. 1793-96
- Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 36.6 x 25 cm (14 7/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
- Provenance: McNair Scott (sale: Glendinings sale catalogue, April 1, 1960, lot 46), Hans Popper (sale: Sotheby Parke Bernet, October 5, 1972, lot 142), Eugene V. Thaw
- Type: Print
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.301
- Medium: Color woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Inscriptions: Signature: Eishi zu Publisher: Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eiju han, emblem) Censorship Seal: kiwame
- Department: Japanese Art
- Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615-1868)
- Credit Line: The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith
- Collection: Japanese Art
- Accession Number: 1985.301
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