A Low Tide Pentaptych (c. 1830): Art, History and Details

A Low Tide Pentaptych (c. 1830) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797–1861).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Five surimono 刷物, privately commissioned prints known literally as "printed things," make up this image of women collecting sea life at low tide. Ten poems written by members of a poetry salon appear across the upper part of the composition. All but one contain the words "low tide," with the remaining poem describing abalone as a sought-after jewel.

Object facts

• Title: A Low Tide Pentaptych
• Date: c. 1830
• Creator attribution: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797–1861)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Print
• Technique: Pentaptych of color woodblock prints
• Dimensions: Each: 21.2 x 18.4 cm (8 3/8 x 7 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1916.1108

A detail from the museum

A pentaptych is a composition of five parts.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.