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First Calligraphy of the New Year (Kissho hajime), from the album Saishiki mitsu no asa (Colors of the Triple Dawn)


彩色美津朝 吉書初
Torii Kiyonaga (Japanese, 1752–1815)
Japanese
Edo period
1787 (Tenmei 7)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Horizontal ôban; 25.5 x 38.5 cm (10 1/16 x 15 3/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.13957
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné The book: MFA, Golden Age (2010), #137; Chiba Museum, Torii Kiyonage (2007), list #26, pl. 228; Kokusho sômokuroku, rev. ed., vol. 3 (1990), p. 642; Hirano, Kiyonaga (1939), book list #136, pl. CXII
DescriptionIntact album: 34.395
Signed this sheet unsigned; Gakô Torii Kiyonaga on final page
無款 (画工 鳥居清長)
Marks Collector's seal (unidentified)
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.