The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 29, 2023

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

1784

Torii Kiyonaga 鳥居 清長

(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).

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signature: Kiyonaga ga

Inscription

Collector's seal: Vever

Provenance
?-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
Citations
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
Exhibition history

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).

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