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Fullers Pounding Cloth by Moonlight; Illustration of a Poem by Ariwara no Narihira, from the series A True Mirror of the Imagery of Chinese and Japanese Poets
Fullers Pounding Cloth by Moonlight; Illustration of a Poem by Ariwara no Narihira, from the series A True Mirror of the Imagery of Chinese and Japanese Poets

Fullers Pounding Cloth by Moonlight; Illustration of a Poem by Ariwara no Narihira, from the series A True Mirror of the Imagery of Chinese and Japanese Poets

Artist/Maker (Japanese, 1760–1849)
Date1833–34
MediumColor woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
DimensionsVertical nagaōban; overall: 20 3/8 × 9 in. (51.7 × 22.8 cm)
Credit LineMary A. Ainsworth Bequest
PortfolioA True Mirror of the Imagery of Chinese and Japanese Poets (Shika shashinkyo)
Object number1950.738
Status
Not on view
More Information
In this autumn scene, geese migrate in the distance, silhouetted in the moonlight. Other geese gather by a pond or riverbank. A man moves a heavy basket, preparing to store the harvest in a granary behind him. A woman and boy pound rolled cloth, perhaps having just washed it in the water nearby. Behind them, the rooftops of temple buildings rise out of the trees and mist.

The title cartouche above lists the name of the Heian period poet Ariwara no Narihira 在原業平 (825–880). Oddly, none of the eighty-seven poems attributed to him seem to match the scene illustrated here.
Exhibition History
Japanese Woodblock Prints: Selections from the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (May 1, 1992 - June 14, 1992 )
A Life in Prints: Mary A. Ainsworth and the Floating World
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (February 3, 2015 - June 7, 2015 )
Ukiyo-e Prints from the Mary Ainsworth Collection
  • Chiba City Museum of Art, Chiba, Japan (April 13, 2019 - May 25, 2019 )
  • Shizuoka City Museum of Art, Shizuoka, Japan (June 8, 2019 - July 28, 2019 )
  • Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts, Osaka, Japan (August 10, 2019 - September 29, 2019 )
Ukiyo-e Prints from the Mary Ainsworth Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (January 14, 2020 - December 6, 2020 )
Collections
  • Asian
This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator. Noticed a mistake? Have some extra information about this object? Please contact us.