Trees that Bring Wealth and Prosperity: Beauty

Object Details

• Artist

  Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797-1858)

• Label

  From a series linking various wifely virtues to trees that bring wealth and prosperity, this print by Hiroshige-an artist best known for his landscape series-portrays a young woman admiring herself in a mirror. She is shown from the rear, a view that displays with erotic suggestion the graceful curve of her neck, soft arms, and slender fingers. The wifely virtues praised here are cleanliness and good grooming. The poem underscores this theme:

  The mirror captures me

  in the very lap of luxury,

  amidst gorgeous flowers.

  Translation of poem by John T. Carpenter

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Masterful Illusions: Japanese Prints from the Anne van Biema Collection (September 15, 2002 to January 9, 2003)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  The Anne van Biema Collection

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1840s, 1690s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Utagawa, Hiroshige

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Art, Oban, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Anne van Biema collection, Ukiyo-e, Poetry, Woman

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Mirrors, Prints