Woman Performing the Spring Pony Dance

anonymous, 1810

Vrouwen met trommels en shamisen en één dansend met stokpaard. Op één van de trommels de cijfers 1, 3, 6, 9 en 11 voor het paardjaar 1810. Waarschijnlijk een ontwerp van de dichter Yuyukan Koryu.

  • Artwork typeprint, surimono
  • Object numberRP-P-1991-633
  • Dimensionsheight 134 mm x width 185 mm
  • Physical characteristicsnishikie, with blindprinting

Identification

  • Title(s)

    Woman Performing the Spring Pony Dance

  • Object type

  • Object number

    RP-P-1991-633

  • Description

    Vrouwen met trommels en shamisen en één dansend met stokpaard. Op één van de trommels de cijfers 1, 3, 6, 9 en 11 voor het paardjaar 1810. Waarschijnlijk een ontwerp van de dichter Yuyukan Koryu.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    collector's mark, recto, stamped: Lugt 2971

  • Part of catalogue

  • Catalogue reference

    • Forrer 199
    • Goslings 168

Creation

  • Creation

    • printmaker: anonymous, Japan
    • poet: Benbenkan Korifu (mentioned on object), Japan

  • Dating

    1810

  • Search further with

Material and technique

  • Physical description

    nishikie, with blindprinting

  • Dimensions

    height 134 mm x width 185 mm

Explanatory note

  • Een surimono is een luxe uitgevoerde prent waarop beeld met één of meerdere gedichten gecombineerd is. Bij het drukken van een surimono werd vaak gebruik gemaakt van dikker papier, blinddruk en metaal pigmenten, zoals koper- en zilverpoeder. De prenten werden vaak in opdracht van dichters gemaakt en als exclusief geschenk aan vrienden en relaties gegeven.

This work is about

  • Subject

Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse

  • Acquisition

    gift 1991

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    …; the dealer or collection Hayashi Tadamasa (1853-1906) (L. 2971);…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1988;{Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 99, cat. no. 168} by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Documentation

Persistent URL

Questions?

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anonymous

Woman Performing the Spring Pony Dance

Japan, Japan, 1810

Inscriptions

  • stamped: lower left, in red ink, with seal of Hayashi Tadamasa

Provenance

…; the dealer or collection Hayashi Tadamasa (1853-1906) (L. 2971);…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1988;1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 99, cat. no. 168 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-633

Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse

Context

For another print featuring the Spring Pony Dance, by Maki Bokusen, dated 1810, see RP-P-1991-454; for calendar prints for the New Horse Year 1786 on the same theme featuring women performing the Spring Pony Dance, cf.2Keyes, Roger S., The Art of Surimono. Privately Published Japanese Woodblock Prints and Books in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 2 vols. London: Sotheby’s Publications, 1985, p. 262. (by Kitao Shigemasa), and3Ibid., p. 355..

Entry

A woman holding a hobby-horse performs the Spring Pony Dance, harugoma, to the accompaniment of a shamisen and a hand-drum played by two women seated to the right.

This print is a picture calendar, egoyomi, for the New Year of the Horse 1810, the numerals for the short months, 1, 3, 6, 9 and 11, visible on the drum, kotsuzumi, held by the woman in the right foreground.

Although the design is unsigned, it is plausible in view of the obvious amateurism that it was designed by the poet Korifu, or Koryu. This is supported by the opening words of his poem, speaking of the design 'being cut out in cherry wood'.

One poem by Benbenkan Korifu, or Koryu [I, 1749-1818, earlier Fukurindo Kyoritsu, a leader of the Biwaren].4Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 79.

Issued by the poet
Unsigned

Literature

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 199

Citation

M. Forrer, 2013, 'anonymous, Woman Performing the Spring Pony Dance, Japan, 1810', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200467503

(accessed 21 mei 2026 12:20:06 UTC+0).

Footnotes

  • 1Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 99, cat. no. 168
  • 2Keyes, Roger S., The Art of Surimono. Privately Published Japanese Woodblock Prints and Books in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 2 vols. London: Sotheby’s Publications, 1985, p. 262.
  • 3Ibid., p. 355.
  • 4Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 79.