Suzuki Harunobu

ca. 1724-70

Three Evenings: Reading on an Autumn Evening

signed Suzuki Harunobu ga, published by Nishinomiya Shinroku (fl. ca. 1762-1829), ca. 1768

chuban 11 1/8 by 8 1/8 in., 28.4 by 20.5 cm

This print is part of an untitled series illustrating Three Evenings, each composition with a rectangular cartouche enclosing consecutive verses that refer to the evening from section four of the Shin Kokinshu (a collection of waka verse compiled in 1206. The poem in this print is by Jakuren Hoshi.

Sabishisa wa
sono iro to shi mo
nakarikeri
maki tatsu yama no
aki no yugure

Solitariness-
even the warmth of colors
is for it absent...
where black firs grow, the mountains
in the autumn at sundown

For poem translations and comparison with a complete set assembled by the British Museum, see Waterhouse, Harunobu and his Age, nos. 30, 31 and 32, where he notes the subject and compositions of the three prints are derived from a single page from Ehon Yamato hiji (1735-42), vol. I by Nishikawa Sukenobu (1671-1750), entitled Sanseki ittai zu, which is a composite illustration of three consecutive Shin kokinshu poems.

Exhibited:
Collected and Cherished, Japanese Art in Dutch Private Collections 1600-1900, Society for Japanese Art, Westfries Museum in Hoorn, The Netherlands, September 2nd - October 22, 2000

price: Sold