Ebisu and Benten Walking in the Snow
Medium
Woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper
Dimensions
8 9/16 x 7 9/16 in. (21.7 x 19.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number
JP2228
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the serene woodblock print *Ebisu and Benten in the Snow*, Uawa Toyohiro captures a whimsical moment from Japanese folklore. Created during Japan's Edo period (16151868), this intimate surimono—a luxurious, privately commissioned print often produced for New Year's greetings—features the Shinto deities Ebisu, god of fishermen and prosperity, anden, goddess of music eloquence, strolling hand-in-hand through a snowy landscape. Toyohiro a master of the Utagawa school and mentor to Hiroshige, renders their figures with delicate grace against a wintry backdrop, evoking a sense of playful divinit...
About the Artist
Utagawa Toyohiro · 1763–1828
Utagawa Toyohiro (1763–1828) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist and painter who founded a major branch of the Utagawa school and is best remembered as the teacher of Utagawa Hiroshige, one of the greatest landscape print designers in Japanese art history. Born in Edo (present-day Tokyo), he studied under Utagawa Toyoharu, the founder of the Utagawa school, who was noted for introducing Western perspect...