A Hawk in Flight

Artist/Culture Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 Japanese, 1760–1849

Dateabout 1840

Mediumwoodblock print; ink and color on paper; uchiwa-e

Dimensionssheet: 22.3 × 29.5 cm (8 3/4 × 11 5/8 in.)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineJohn Chandler Bancroft Collection

Terms

Object number1901.59.3075

Label TextNorthern Goshawk in Flight

Artist: Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
Date: Mid 1830s
Bird: Northern Goshawk, Accipiter gentiles
Signed: Zen Hokusai aratame Gakyo-rojin Manji
Seal: Mount Fuji
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper; uchiwa-e
John Chandler Bancroft Collection, 1901.59.3075

Hokusai masterfully depicts a Northern Goshawk (otaka) with molting feathers in an uchiwa-fan composition. The goshawk emerges from the clouds in a stoop, or dive, about to attack its prey with its sharp beak and talons. The red seal depicting Mount Fuji is a reference to the belief that to dream of a hawk/falcon, eggplants and Mount Fuji at New Year's is an omen of good fortune.

The design of so-called uchiwa-e, to be mounted as non-folding fans on bamboo-rib supports attached to handles, began in the second quarProvenanceJohn Bancroft Collection

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