Parodies and Legends
Artist
Furuyama, Moromasa
(Japanese, active 1712–1772)
DateEnkyo era (1744–1748)
Mediumink, color, and gold, with silver and gold flecks on paper
Dimensions52 x 134 cm (20 1/2 x 52 3/4 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineStoddard Acquisition Fund
Terms
Object number1998.180
DescriptionTwenty scenes: (1) Amusements in the Zashiki; (2) Kogo no Tsubone and Nakakuni; (3) Dog-Chasing Event; (4) Parody of the Tale of Nasu-no-Yoichi; (5) Daitoku and Fukurokuju visiting the Pleasure Quarter; (6) The Gods of Good Fortune Sumo Wrestling and a Mitate of Chinese Children; (7) Mitate Watanabe no Tsune; (8) Raiko and his retainers Seeking the Shutendoji; (9) Yoshitsune (Ushiwaka) at Swordsman ship Practice with the Tengu; (10) Chushingura: Mitate of Kono Moronau Peeking at Kaoyogozen; (11) Murasaki Shikibu at Ishiyamadera; (12) Mitate of Taira Koremochi and the Demons; (13) The Test of Strength between Foro and Asahina; (14) Daikoku, the God of Wealth Amusing a Courtesan and Her Attendant with Acrobatic Tricks; (15) Mitate of Kagekiyo; (16) Autumn Pleasures; (17) Mitate: Yoko, one of the 24 Paragons of Filial Piety; (18) Ebisu Riding on an Octopus; (19) Mitate: Shoki the Demon-Queller and a Courtesan Watching a Goblins' Circus; (20) Asahina and 100 Goblins Walking Around at NightLabel TextParodies and Legends Furuyama Moromasa (1704-1748) Edo period, Enkyo era (1744-48) Handscroll, ink, color, gold and silver and gold flecks on paper Signature: Furuyama Moromasa ga; seal: Furuyama Bunchi Stoddard Acquisition Fund; 1998.180. This handscroll of unusually large size depicts twenty separate scenes—each approximately four feet long—of parodies and legends from popular and classical Japanese literature and art. These paintings are not related sequentially and are complete in themselves. Whether in ink alone or in color, each scene is painted in a spirited and lively manner. This work is thought to date near the end of the artist's career, when he had distanced himself from the style of Hishikawa Moronobu, (d.1694) a leading ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world) painter and illustrator. It incorporates subjects and techniques derived from the shogunate's official painters the Kano School, as well as retaining ukiyo-e elements from Moromasa's earlier work. The large size and outstanding quality of these paintings, as well as the incorporation of many samurai and Kano school subjects in this scroll suggest that it was painted for a high-ranking samurai patron. There is, however, no documentary evidence to support this assumption.ProvenanceAzabu Museum Collection; Christies', NY, Oct. 27, 1998 (sale 9044)
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