id: 139450 accession number: 1963.260 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.260 updated: 2022-08-04 09:01:27.990000 Writing Box with Spitting Courtesan, early to mid-1800s. Japan, Edo period (1615-1868). Lacquered wood with maki-e (image made of sprinkled gold dust); box: 21.6 x 19.8 x 3.2 cm (8 1/2 x 7 13/16 x 1 1/4 in.); closed: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.); cover: 20.7 x 20.7 cm (8 1/8 x 8 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Worcester R. Warner Collection 1963.260 title: Writing Box with Spitting Courtesan title in original language: 唾を吐く遊女蒔絵硯箱 series: series in original language: creation date: early to mid-1800s creation date earliest: 1800 creation date latest: 1868 current location: 235A Japanese creditline: Worcester R. Warner Collection copyright: --- culture: Japan, Edo period (1615-1868) technique: Lacquered wood with maki-e (image made of sprinkled gold dust) department: Japanese Art collection: Japanese Art type: Lacquer find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Box: 21.6 x 19.8 x 3.2 cm (8 1/2 x 7 13/16 x 1 1/4 in.); Closed: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.); Cover: 20.7 x 20.7 cm (8 1/8 x 8 1/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review (1963) opening date: 1963-11-26T05:00:00 Year in Review (1963). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 26, 1963-January 5, 1964). title: The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art opening date: 2011-03-27T00:00:00 The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 15-August 21, 2011). title: Japan's Floating World (Japanese art rotation) 235 opening date: 2022-04-08T04:00:00 Japan's Floating World (Japanese art rotation) 235. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 8-October 9, 2022). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Tomkinson date: footnotes: citations: (N. V. Hammer, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1963 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1963-present date: 1963- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: The design on this writing box shows a courtesan who has just completed an impressive feat of spitting the term shinobukoi (忍恋), which could be translated as “hidden love” or “unrequited love,” on an earthen wall. The phrase appeared in classical Japanese poetry anthologies produced by nobles writing in ink on the finest decorated papers. Here, the confining walls of the brothel district become a space for public announcement in graffiti, with the medium being perhaps tea. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1963.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 10 (1963): 263–294. page number: Mentioned: no. 64, p. 292; Reproduced: no. 64, p. 284 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25151974 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 285 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n309 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 285 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n309 Pekarik, Andrew. Japanese Lacquer, 1600-1900: Selections from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980. page number: Comparative material from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection reproduced: cover, color plate no. 22, p. 78 url: ps://books.google.com/books?id=Frw1vEmyHSMC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Sŏn, Sŭng-hye. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011. page number: cat. no. 3 url: Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 54–55 url: Franklin, David. The Cleveland Museum of Art. London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd., 2012. page number: Reproduced: p. 54 - 55 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260/1963.260_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260/1963.260_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260/1963.260_full.tif