猫に蜘蛛図|Cat Watching a Spider
ca. 1888–92
Medium
Album leaf; ink and color on silk
Dimensions
14 3/4 x 11 in. (37.5 x 27.9 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture & Period
Japan · Meiji period (1868–1912)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Charles Stewart Smith Collection, Gift of Mrs. Charles Stewart Smith, Charles Stewart Smith Jr., and Howard Caswell Smith, in memory of Charles Stewart Smith, 1914
Accession Number
14.76.61.73
Tags
Art Historical Context
Oide Tōkō’s *Cat Watching a Spider*, created around 1888–92 during Japan’s Meiji period, offers a charming glimpse into everyday observation rendered with refined traditional techniques. Painted as an album leaf in ink and color on silk, the intimate scale—roughly 15 by 11 inches—invites close viewing, a format long favored in Japanese art for capturing fleeting moments from nature. The Meiji era marked a time of rapid modernization, yet artists like Tōkō continued to celebrate familiar subjects with delicate brushwork and subtle color. The composition centers on a cat intently focused on a s...