De vier kameraden van de schrijftafel van de Ichiyôren

About this artwork

J.A. Bierens de Haan Bequest, Amsterdam

Art Historical Context

Step into the refined world of Edo-period Japan with *De vier kameraden van schrijftafel van de Ichiyô* (The Four Comrades of the Ichiyôren Writing Desk a delicate surimono print by Yashima Gakutei around 1827. Gakutei, a master of ukiyo-e from Osaka and Kyoto, specialized in these luxurious, privately commissioned woodblock prints, often celebrating poetry circles like the Ichiyren, a Kyoto group known for kyôka verse. This intimate work (201 × 181 mm) captures the scholarly "four treasures" of the writing desk—brush, inkstick, paper, and inkstone—personified as loyal comrades, evoking litera...

About the Artist

Yashima Gakutei · 1786–1868

Yashima Gakutei (c. 1786–1868), born in Osaka as the illegitimate son of a Tokugawa shogunate samurai named Hirata, adopted the name from his mother's subsequent marriage into the Yashima clan. Little is documented about his early years beyond these familial ties, but he pursued artistic training under the esteemed ukiyo-e masters Totoya Hokkei and Katsushika Hokusai, absorbing their precision in ...