The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Koto from the series The Six Arts in Fashionable Guise

Koto from the series The Six Arts in Fashionable Guise

c. 1793–96
(Japanese, 1756–1829)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Color woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Sheet: 36.6 x 25 cm (14 7/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith 1985.301
Location: not on view

Description

Chinese classical education consisted of the Six Arts: performing rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics. The Chinese qin, a stringed musical instrument in the zither family, customarily symbolizes the art of music. In this print a similar Japanese instrument, the koto, replaces the qin. The fashionable Japanese entertainer playing it stands in for an accomplished Chinese scholar.
  • McNair Scott (sale: Glendinings sale catalogue, April 1, 1960, lot 46)
    Hans Popper (sale: Sotheby Parke Bernet, October 5, 1972, lot 142)
    Eugene V. Thaw
  • Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation - September 2016-January 2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 19, 2016-January 8, 2017).
    Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 7, 1993-January 2, 1994).
    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).
    Cleveland Museum of Art, 1988: A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection.
  • {{cite web|title=Koto from the series The Six Arts in Fashionable Guise|url=false|author=Chōbunsai Eishi|year=c. 1793–96|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.301