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Earthquake Ken Game (Jishin ken)


「地震けん」 (鯰絵)
Japanese
Edo period
about 1855 (Ansei 2)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban; 36.4 x 25 cm (14 5/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.29507.33
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Ôkubo, Namazu-e (Nat'l. Mus. of J. History, 2021), #143; Tomizawa, Nishiki-e no chikara (2005), chart 4, #61, photo p. 87; Tokita, E de tanoshimu Edo no kotowaza (2005), p. 221; Linhart, "Interpreting...," in Japan at Play (2002), p. 48, fig. 2.4
DescriptionMFA impressions: 11.21960, 11.29507.33, 11.35945, 11.38632, 11.42059

A game of Fox-fists (Kitsune ken) played by three of the Four Scary Things, Earthquake (the catfish), Thunderstorm (the thunder god), and Fire, while the fourth scary thing, the stern father, looks on.
Signed Unsigned
無款
Marks No censor's seal
No blockcutter's mark
No publisher's mark
改印:なし
彫師:なし
版元:なし
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.