Woman with a Child in the Garden Looking at the New Moon
19th century
Medium
Part of an album of woodblock prints (surimono); ink and color on paper
Dimensions
5 1/2 x 7 7/16 in. (14 x 18.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture
Japan
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number
JP2281
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the tranquil scene of *Woman with a Child in the Garden Looking at the New Moon*, Ryūryūkyo Shinsai captures a tender moment from 19th-century Japan. This intimate woodblock print, part of a surimono album—luxurious, privately commissioned works often featuring poetry and shared among elite circles—showcases the artist's mastery of ukiyo-e traditions. Measuring just 5½ x 7⅜ inches, its compact scale invites close contemplation, with delicate ink and color on paper evoking the fleeting beauty of everyday life. Shinsai renders a woman and child in a lush garden, their gazes fixed on the slen...
About the Artist
Ryūryūkyo Shinsai · 1799–1823
Ryūryūkyo Shinsai (柳々居辰斎), active from 1799 to 1823, was a prominent Japanese ukiyo-e printmaker based in Edo (modern Tokyo), renowned for his mastery of surimono—luxurious, privately commissioned woodblock prints produced for elite poetry circles and New Year's celebrations. He began his training under Tawaraya Sōri before becoming a student of the legendary Katsushika Hokusai, from whom he recei...