The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 21, 2025
Abalone Divers off the Coast of Ise, from an Untitled Landscape Series
early 1830s
(Japanese, 1786–1865)
publisher
(Japanese)
Overall: 27.4 x 40 cm (10 13/16 x 15 3/4 in.)
Anonymous Gift 1916.944
Location: Not on view
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.- 1916–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Bromfield, David. Monet & Japan. Canberra, Seattle: National Gallery of Australia; Distributed in the United States of America by University of Washington Press, 2001. cat. no. 72, pp. 135 and 198
- Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 26-July 9, 2018).Monet & Japan. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia (organizer) (March 10-June 11, 2001).
- {{cite web|title=Abalone Divers off the Coast of Ise, from an Untitled Landscape Series|url=false|author=Utagawa Kunisada, Yamaguchiya Tobei|year=early 1830s|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.944