The Monkey Bridge (early 1830s): Art, History and Details

The Monkey Bridge (early 1830s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Katsushika Taito II (Japanese, active c. 1810–50s).

The work and its context

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

Taito II, who studied with Hokusai, created this image of the Monkey Bridge in Kai Province, west of Tokyo. By depicting the moon beneath the narrow bridge, he emphasized the height of the gorge. Before it was given to the museum by one of its founders, Jeptha H. Wade, this print was trimmed. Uncut versions of the same scene include a section with a poetic inscription designed to look like a rubbing from a stone stele, or commemorative marker, often erected in scenic locations. Ink was also applied differently to produce varying effects in other impressions.

Object facts

• Title: The Monkey Bridge
• Date: early 1830s
• Creator attribution: Katsushika Taito II (Japanese, active c. 1810–50s)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Print
• Technique: color woodblock print
• Dimensions: 26 x 23.5 cm (10 1/4 x 9 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1921.413

Collection credit

Gift from J. H. Wade

Further reading listed by the museum

• Walpole Galleries (New York, N.Y.), and Frederick William Gookin. Rare and Valuable Japanese Color Prints ; the Noted Collection Formed by a Distinguished French Connoisseur of Paris ...: Exhibition and Unrestricted Sale at Delmonico's ... the Week of January 17th to 22nd, 1921 ... Sale Thursday, Friday and Saturday Evening. New York: Walpole Galleries, 1921.

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.