Cock, Hen, and Chickens
ca. 1770
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
15 1/8 x 5 1/8 in. (38.4 x 13.0 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Francis Lathrop Collection, Purchase, Frederick C. Hewitt Fund, 1911
Accession Number
JP740
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created around 1770 during Japan’s Edo period, this delicate woodblock print by Uawa Toyoharu captures a simple yet lively scene of a rooster, hen, and their chicks. Toyoharu, founder of the influential Utagawa school, helped shape the golden age of ukiyo-e, the colorful “pictures of the floating world” that brought affordable art into everyday homes. The tall, narrow format—known as a hashira-e or pillar print—was designed to be displayed on the wooden posts of traditional Japanese interiors, turning an ordinary domestic subject into an elegant vertical composition. Rendered in ink and color...
About the Artist
Utagawa Toyoharu · 1735–1814
Utagawa Toyoharu (1735–1814) holds a foundational place in the history of Japanese printmaking as the founder of the prolific and long-lived Utagawa school, which would go on to produce some of the most celebrated names in ukiyo-e, including Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi. Born in what is now Hyogo Prefecture, Toyoharu moved to Edo, where he studied under Toriyama Sekien and later explored the Kano schoo...