Koto from the series The Six Arts in Fashionable Guise
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.
Credit: The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith
c. 1793-96
Color woodblock print; ink and color on paper
36.6 x 25.0cm
1985.301
Image and text: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023
Where you'll find this
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Permanent collection