Object Details
- Label
- Sori's range of subjects, like Hokusai's, was broader than most artists of ukiyo-e. His work included classical literary subjects, such as Six Immortal Poets, and sympathetic renderings of humble peasants, like this fisherman posed in strict profile with the sacred Mount Fuji silhouetted in the background. The colored feather cloak worn by the fisherman alludes to a Japanese legend about the fisherman Hakuryo, who encounters a beautiful spirit near Mount Fuji. Startled by his humble appearance, she flees, leaving behind her feathered cloak (hagoromo). The story became the subject of a famous Noh play.
- Provenance
- To 1900
- Bunshichi Kobayashi (circa 1861-1923), Tokyo, Japan, to 1900 [1]
- From 1900 to 1919
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunshichi Kobayashi, through Edward. S. Hull Jr., New York, in 1900 [2]
- From 1920
- Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
- Notes:
- [1] See Original Kakemono List, L. 223, pg. 49, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Along with the name of B. Kobayashi, the purchase details for this object also note the name of E.S. Hull Jr. (see Accession List, Collections Management office). Edward S. Hull Jr. of New York was Ernest Francisco Fenollosa’s (1853-1908) lawyer. Hull often acted as an agent, facilitating purchases of objects consigned to him by Fenollosa, as well as purchases of objects consigned to him by Fenollosa's
- well-known associate, Bunshichi Kobayashi (see correspondence, Hull to Freer, 1898-1900, as well as invoices from E.S. Hull Jr., 1898-1900, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives).
- [2] See note 1.
- [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
- Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art Collection
- Exhibition History
- Artists of Edo (November 19, 2005 to May 29, 2006)
- Previous custodian or owner
- Kobayashi Bunshichi 小林文七 (ca. 1861-1923) (C.L. Freer source)
- Edward S. Hull Jr.
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
- Data Source
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Artist
- Hishikawa Sori 菱川宗理
- Date
- 1770-1820
- Period
- Edo period
- Credit Line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- Medium
- Color on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W (image): 86.3 × 28.1 cm (34 × 11 1/16 in)
- Type
- Painting
