Comment - Charming triptych showing women paying a visit for the New Year's holiday with traditional New Year's games and rituals. At bottom center, a beauty in a blue kimono kneels respectfully, her fingertips delicately touching the floor before her. In front of her, a gray lacquer tray on the floor holds a black lacquer box with golden inlays and a stack of sake cups. At center left, a beauty carries in a tray full of sweets. The background shows a table stand with a scarf and a turquoise turtle. On the left panel a woman kneels down to welcome two young children with Western haircuts. The boy carries a lavender Edo kite ("Edo-kaku", "江戸角") with a Daruma face on it, while the girl holds a decorative battledore for a game called Hanetsuki, a game similar to badminton with decorative battledores and a feathered shuttlecock. Kiting and Hanetsuki are both popular amusements for the New Year. The right panel shows a blue ceramic vase decorated with a parrot. The vase holds an arrangement of pine, bamboo, and blossoming plum, alluding to the New Year festivities.

The title cassette on the right panel upper right is not read.

Series -


Artist -  (see Biography)


Signature - Shūkō (Shūkō-ga, 秋香画) with red seal;


Publisher - not specified;  (carver seal: Kōtoku (工德)

Image Size - 35.2 x 70.5cm (13 7/8" x 27 3/4") + margins

 

Condition - triptych, three attached panels ; nishiki-e (cloured woodblock); each panel vertical ôban (ôban tate-e);