Artwork Page for Abalone Divers off the Coast of Ise, from an Untitled Landscape Series

Details / Information for Abalone Divers off the Coast of Ise, from an Untitled Landscape Series

Abalone Divers off the Coast of Ise, from an Untitled Landscape Series

勢洲鰒取ノ図

early 1830s

Utagawa Kunisada 歌川 国貞

(Japanese, 1786–1865)
publisher

Yamaguchiya Tobei

(Japanese)
Culture
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Medium
color woodblock print
Measurements
Overall: 27.4 x 40 cm (10 13/16 x 15 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Anonymous Gift 1916.944
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Prolific printmaker Utagawa Kunisada produced this seascape of abalone fishing as part of a series of untitled landscape prints in the early Tenpō era (1830–44). In the coastal city of Ise on Japan’s main island of Honshu, female divers called ama traditionally did the physically demanding job of harvesting shellfish such as abalone. These marine snails are valuable for their edible flesh, and their iridescent inner shell is a source of mother-of-pearl. This print depicts three stages of the harvest: One diver plunges into the water, another holds her breath while prying an abalone off the rocks with a blade, and a third ama conveys her successful harvest to the beaming fishermen on the boat.
A horizontal color woodblock print depicts figures diving for shellfish in a blue-gray sea. Two wooden boats carry men and bare-chested women amidst undulating waves. In the lower right, a diver reaches toward dense clusters of green seaweed near dark rocks. Muted green mountains rise along the distant horizon. Japanese calligraphy and red seals feature in the upper right and lower left (see "Inscriptions").

Abalone Divers off the Coast of Ise, from an Untitled Landscape Series

early 1830s

Utagawa Kunisada, Yamaguchiya Tobei

(Japanese, 1786–1865), (Japanese)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

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