A Private Puppet Performance
date: label: Date
content: 18th century
label: Period
content: Edo period
name: label: Artist
content: Okumura Masanobu 奥村政信 (1686-1764)
notes: label: Label
content: A large private residence is the setting for this performance by itinerant puppeteers. Chanters and a musician provide vocal and musical accompaniment for the puppeteer. To the left, behind a shoji (sliding paper-covered screen) are additional puppets. The single figure in the right foreground is probably a narrator. Women of the household enjoy the performance discreetly from behind bamboo screens. The artist Masanobu incorporated principles of European perspective into this picture. Uki-e, or perspective pictures, were a specialty of this artist, who created both paintings and prints in the new style.
label: Provenance
content: To 1902
label: Provenance
content: Bunshichi Kobayashi (circa 1861-1923), Boston, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Yokohama, to 1902 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1902 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunshichi Kobayashi in 1902 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Panel List, L. 18, pg. 4, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [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.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: The Floating World: Ukiyo-e Paintings and Prints (December 8, 2002 to May 26, 2003)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Theatre in the Edo Period (July 22, 1985 to October 15, 1985)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Lacquer (18 May 1980 to 15 June 1980)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Ceramics/Puppets (June 16, 1980 to July 14, 1980)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Ceramics (July 15, 1980 to June 21, 1982)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Ukiyo-e Painting (May 2, 1973 to July 1, 1974)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Kobayashi Bunshichi 小林文七 (ca. 1861-1923) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: Edo period (1615 - 1868)
label: Topic
content: music
label: Topic
content: puppetry
label: Topic
content: shamisen
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: ukiyo-e
label: Topic
content: kakemono
label: Topic
content: uki-e
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1902.250
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Color on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 54.5 x 92.8 cm (21 7/16 x 36 9/16 in)