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

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

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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