Rice-Drying Frame
Medium
Album leaf; lacquer on paper
Dimensions
4 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (11.4 x 8.9 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Howard Mansfield Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936
Accession Number
36.100.133
Art Historical Context
Nestled within the intimate format of an album leaf,Rice-Drying Frame* Shibata Zeshin a slice of everyday Japanese rural life during the Edo period (161–1868). Measuring just 4½ x 3½ inches, this delicate work depicts a traditional wooden frame used for drying rice—a staple crop that sustained Japan's agrarian society. Zeshin, a master innovator in lacquer art, elevates this humble subject into a poetic emblem of seasonal harmony and impermanence, reflecting the era's fascination with nature's cycles amid urbanizing prosperity. What sets this piece apart is Zeshin's groundbreaking use of lacq...
About the Artist
Shibata Zeshin · 1807–1891
Japanese, 1807–1891