The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 24, 2024

Women Watching a Girl Dance on Shells (From the series Fashionable Presentations of Three Horses)

Women Watching a Girl Dance on Shells (From the series Fashionable Presentations of Three Horses)

1784
(Japanese, 1752–1815)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
color woodblock print
Sheet: 36.3 x 24.8 cm (14 5/16 x 9 3/4 in.)
The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith 1985.330
Location: not on view

Description

Dancing plays a significant role in festival celebrations and special occasions. The young girl is dancing on a pair of bivalve shells (also used as game pieces in other amusements), accompanied by the music of the samisen (3-stringed guitar).
  • ?-1942
    Henri Vever [1854–1942], France
    March 24, 1977
    (Sotheby Parke Bernet, London, UK, March 24, 1977, part III, lot 140)
    1977-?
    (R. E. Lewis, Inc., California, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin Smith)
    ?-1985
    The Kelvin Smith Collection, Cleveland, OH, given by Mrs. Kelvin [Eleanor Armstrong] Smith [1899-1998] given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1985-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Hirano, Chie. Kiyonaga; A Study of His Life and Works, with a Portfolio of Plates in Color and Collotype. Cambridge, Mass: Pub. for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, by the Harvard University Press, 1939. Reproduced: no. 617, Pl. LVII
    Sotheby's London. Highly Important Japanese Prints, Illustrated Books and Drawings and Paintings, from the Henri Vever Collection: Part III. March 24, 1977. Listed: p. 74, lot no. 139
  • 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=Women Watching a Girl Dance on Shells (From the series Fashionable Presentations of Three Horses)|url=false|author=Torii Kiyonaga|year=1784|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.330