Koto from the series The Six Arts in Fashionable Guise
Chōbunsai Eishi (Japanese, 1756–1829)
c. 1793–96
Medium
Color woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
36.6 × 25 cm
Classification
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith
Accession Number
1985.301
Tags
male
About this artwork
Chinese classical education consisted of the Six Arts: performing rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics. The Chinese qin, a stringed musical instrument in the zither family, customarily symbolizes the art of music. In this print a similar Japanese instrument, the koto, replaces the qin. The fashionable Japanese entertainer playing it stands in for an accomplished Chinese scholar.