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Image Not Available for Young Man Arranging Camellia and Plum Blossoms
Young Man Arranging Camellia and Plum Blossoms
Image Not Available for Young Man Arranging Camellia and Plum Blossoms

Young Man Arranging Camellia and Plum Blossoms

Artist (Japanese, 1735–1785)
Datelate 1750s
Mediumwoodblock print, ink and color on paper; benizuri-e (2 color: red and green)
Dimensionshosoban: 15.3 x 30.5 cm (6 x 12 in.)
ClassificationsPrints
MarkingsTori abura-cho “Yama Maru-ko” (mark of Yamamoto Kohei of Maru-ya on Tori abura-cho known as Maruya Kohei)
Credit LineHarriet B. Bancroft Fund
Object number2006.342
DescriptionHosoban. The print depicts an effeminate young man arranging camellia and plum blossoms. The design is complemented by a haiku. The print would have appealed to both men and women.
Blooming in a hot house
A plum youth
–winter seclusion
Morozaki no / mume no wakashu no / fuyugomori
Label TextIt depicts an effeminate Young Man Arranging Camellia and Plum Blossoms, a beautiful design with a haiku which at the rime would have appealed to both men and women. The verse reads: Blooming in a hot house A Plum Youth -winter seclusion Morozaki no/mumu no wakashu no/fuyugomori A Benizuri-e "Red (beni) printed (zuri) picture (e)", an ukiyo-e print with two printed colors, frequently pink and green or blue, sometimes with the addition of yellow and brown. These prints were popular in the 1740s and 50s but privately distrusted examples are known from the earlier Kyoho era (1716-36). The term was coined in the modern period in order to distinguish these prints from beni-e ("red pictures"), hand-colored ukiyo-e prints using the red pigment beni (c.1720s-30s). Torii Kiyomitsu was the second son of Kiyomasu II and the third in the Torii line. Apart from actor prints the traditional Torii subject, he designed a great many prints in nearly every style fashionable at the moment, for example charming prints of women. Most of them are benizuri-e, the red and green prints which were popular in the 1750s. After 1764 with the rise of nishiki-e, Kiyomitsu was overshadowed by Harunobu and probably retired soon afterwards. Kiyomitsu was the teacher of Kiyonaga.ProvenanceEgenolf Gallery, Burbank, CA
On View
Not on view