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A Japanese man leans into a small platform, holding a puppet of a Japanese woman.

The fair skinned puppeteer man has delicate facial features and wears robes with geometric and crane-bird pattern. The female puppet wears a grey patterned print kimono, her black hair is fastened up by combs. Her body twists slightly stepping forward on the platform with her left arm reaching straight out, pointing lower left, holding a ball-like brush on a stick aimed at the floor. A seam along her wrist and segmented fingers are evident. Calligraphy is written and in upper left within a square accented by water flowers in the corners, and one vertical line along the lower left.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1933.4.1818
People
Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎, Japanese (1760 - 1849)
Title
Puppeteer Holding a Puppet on a Go Board
Classification
Prints
Work Type
surimono, print
Date
1820s
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, Japan
Period
Edo period, 1615-1868
Culture
Japanese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/207667

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Woodblock print (surimono); ink, color, and metallic pigments on paper
Dimensions
Shikishiban: 20.9 x 18.7 cm (8 1/4 x 7 3/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: Hokusai aratame Katsushika Iitsu hitsu

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Friends of Arthur B. Duel
Accession Year
1933
Object Number
1933.4.1818
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Theodore Robert Bowie and James T. Kenney, Art of the Surimono, exh. cat., Indiana University Art Museum (Bloomington, IN, 1979), Cat. No. 107 / pp. 172-173

Exhibition History

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu