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Bookcase, Books and Spectacles, and Potted Adonis Plant

Bookcase, Books and Spectacles, and Potted Adonis Plant

(Japanese, 1794–1832)
Medium/TechniqueWoodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper
DimensionsShikishiban; 21 x 17.2 cm (8 1/4 x 6 3/4 in.)
Credit LineWilliam Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession number11.19922
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPrints
Description
One of the floral symbols of the New Year season was the Adonis plant (fukujusō), a small potted plant often used as a decoration and symbol of the holiday. Its yellow flowers looked especially charming with the blue-and-white glazed pottery typically used for flower pots. In combination with the books, bookcase, and spectacles, it suggests that someone has been spending the holiday reading. Like many surimono, this one was made for an amateur poetry club, and poems by three different poets are inscribed on it.
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.