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The Doll Festival, from the series Fashionable Amusements of the Five Festivals (Fûryû Gosekku asobi)

The Doll Festival, from the series Fashionable Amusements of the Five Festivals (Fûryû Gosekku asobi)

(Japanese, active about 1801–1829)
(Japanese)
Medium/TechniqueWoodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
DimensionsVertical ôban; 35.9 x 23.9 cm (14 1/8 x 9 7/16 in.)
Credit LineWilliam Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession number11.18077
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPrints
Description
The second of the Five Festivals, known as the Doll Festival, occurred on the third day of the third lunar month. It was (and still is) a special holiday for little girls, featuring the display of elaborately costumed dolls. Here, a young woman has just removed a festival doll from its wooden storage box, while her little sister arranges a decorative bowl of shells. A third child clutches a branch of flowering cherry, which sometimes bloomed in time for the Doll Festival in addition to the peach blossoms that were the main floral symbol of the holiday.
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 - d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.