Artwork Page for Righteousness, from The Five Virtues

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Righteousness, from The Five Virtues

五常の内　義

1767

Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信

(Japanese, 1724–1770)
Culture
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Medium
color woodblock print
Measurements
Overall: 36.6 x 21.6 cm (14 7/16 x 8 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith 1985.307
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

The artist's signature is on the door painted with a mandarin drake in a snowy scene.

Description

Two young male courtesans enjoy reading in their quarters by candlelight. One holds an illustrated book recognizable as the drawing manual Illustrated Book of the Treasure-Bag of Sketches (絵本写宝袋), published in 1720 by Tachibana Morikuni (1679–1748). The poem at the top translates as follows:

In all things to be humble,
discern the path of reason,
and abstain from falsehood.
This is what we call righteousness.
A vertically oriented woodblock print depicts two women with medium-light skin tones in an interior. On our left, a woman in a gray kimono kneels, reading a book. On our right, a woman in a pink kimono sits on a ledge. Tall candle stands light the scene. A sliding screen behind them reveals snowy bamboo against a pink sky. Blocks of Japanese calligraphy appear in the top corners.

Righteousness, from The Five Virtues

1767

Suzuki Harunobu

(Japanese, 1724–1770)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

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