Fan-Box with Fans

Art Historical Context

**Fan-Box with Fans** Totoya Hokkei is delightful 19th-centuryblock print from Japan's Edo period (161–1868), showcasing the artist's mastery of *surimono*—luxurious, privately commissioned prints often created for special occasions like New Year's greetings. Measuring just 5 3/4 x 7 7/16 inches, this intimate ink-and-color work on paper captures a lacquered fan-box brimming with folded fans, rendered with exquisite detail and vibrant hues typical of ukiyo-e traditions. Hokkei, a pupil of the famed Katsushika Hokusai, excelled in these small-scale gems, employing sophisticated woodblock techniques like subtle embossing and metallic pigments to evoke texture and luminosity. Surimono like this one were elite connoisseurship items, blending poetry, wit, and artistry for Japan's urban literati during the prosperous Edo era, when woodblock printing democratized beauty amid rigid social structures. Fans held deep cultural resonance in Japan, symbolizing elegance, seasonal motifs, and social status—often painted with nature scenes or calligraphy. This print invites us to appreciate everyday luxury through Hokkei's keen eye, now preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's H. O. Havemeyer Collection. A window into fleeting Edo pleasures!

About the Artist

Totoya Hokkei · 1780–1850

Totoya Hokkei (魚屋 北渓, 1780–1850), born Iwakubo Tatsuyuki in Edo (modern Tokyo), began his life as a humble fishmonger in the Yotsuya Samegahashi district, a trade reflected in his art name "Totoya," meaning fish shop. He transitioned to art through rigorous training, first studying under Kanō Yōsen'in Korenobu, head of the Kobikichō branch of the prestigious Kanō school, where he honed landscape p...