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The Twelfth Month (Rôgetsu), from the series Fashionable Twelve Months (Fûryû jûni tsuki no uchi)


「風流十二月ノ内 臘月」
Utagawa Kunisada I (Toyokuni III) (Japanese, 1786–1864)
Publisher: Moriya Jihei (Kinshindô) (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
late 1820s–early 1830s

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban; 36.4 x 25.3 cm (14 5/16 x 9 15/16 in.)
Credit Line Nellie Parney Carter Collection—Bequest of Nellie Parney Carter
Accession Number34.440
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints
In the last month of the year, preparations were made for the upcoming New Year holiday, the biggest holiday of all. A mother and daughter, bundled up against the winter chill, have been buying New Year decorations, perhaps at the year-end fair at the great Kannon temple in Asakusa. The little girl holds a ball, a traditional New Year toy for girls, and a small decoration of pine shoots in a miniature wooden bucket. At the upper left are other kinds of decorations, including an elaborately decorated game paddle (hagoita) and the mask of a plump, smiling goddess who symbolizes good fortune.

Catalogue Raisonné Kumon Kodomo Kenkyûjo, Ukiyo-e no kodomotachi/ Children Depicted in Ukiyoe (1995), #32-12; the series: Schaap, Kunisada (exh. cat., 2016), checklist 1-74
Signed Kôchôrô Kunisada ga
香蝶楼国貞画
Marks Censor's seal: kiwame
改印:極
Provenance1934, bequest of Nellie Parney Carter to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 4, 1934)