Child Reaching for a Fishbowl (c. mid 1720s): Art, History and Details

Child Reaching for a Fishbowl (c. mid 1720s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Nishimura Shigenaga (Japanese, 1697?-1756).

The work and its context

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

This early hand-colored print is enriched with a technique called urushi-e (literally “lacquer picture”), in which glue is painted over areas of black pigment, producing a lustrous surface reminiscent of lacquer. Metal filings sprinkled onto the designs of parasols, a fan, and musical instruments on the woman’s kimono enhance the sense of luxury.

Object facts

• Title: Child Reaching for a Fishbowl
• Date: c. mid 1720s
• Creator attribution: Nishimura Shigenaga (Japanese, 1697?-1756)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Print
• Technique: hand-colored woodblock print
• Dimensions: Sheet: 33.7 x 15.9 cm (13 1/4 x 6 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1985.349

Collection credit

The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith

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.