The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 25, 2024
Pleasure Boat on the Sumida River
1800s
(Japanese, 1771–1844)
Overall: 153.3 x 76.2 cm (60 3/8 x 30 in.); Painting only: 40 x 55.3 cm (15 3/4 x 21 3/4 in.)
Location: not on view
Description
After a major fire in Edo (now Tokyo), the Yoshiwara licensed brothel district was relocated to an area accessed via boat along the Sumida River, giving rise to many compositions depicting travel there. Here, attendants with checkered robes serve refreshment to a client. A figure at the fore of the boat tends to the kitchen. A courtesan at the aft, or rear, surveys the river scene. Acquaintances converse in modest commuter boats, and fishers put in to a tiny island. The boat is near the entrance to the San’ya Canal, where pleasure-seekers would disembark.- (David Newman, London, UK, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin Smith)?–1985The Kelvin Smith Collection, Cleveland, OH, given by Mrs. Kelvin [Eleanor Armstrong] Smith [1899–1998] to the Cleveland Museum of Art1985–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- “Checklist of the Kelvin Smith Bequest.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 75, no. 7, 1988, pp. 292–295. Mentioned: p. 294 www.jstor.org
- Japan's Floating World (Japanese art rotation) 235. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 8-October 9, 2022).Japanese Gallery 236 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 13–November 16, 2015).Visions of Japan: Prints and Paintings from Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 12, 2004-April 10, 2005).A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14-November 13, 1988).
- {{cite web|title=Pleasure Boat on the Sumida River|url=false|author=Teisai Hokuba|year=1800s|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.262