id:			139451
accession number:	1963.260.a
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.260.a
updated:		2022-04-27 09:00:26.938000

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.a

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:		1795
creation date latest:		1805
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:		The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art
	opening date:   2011-03-27T00:00:00
	<i>The Lure of Painted Poetry: Cross-cultural Text and Image in Korean and Japanese Art</i>. 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
	<i>Japan's Floating World (Japanese art rotation) 235</i>. 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<em> shinobukoi</em> (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.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 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. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. 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. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 285
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n309

	Sŏn, Sŭng-hye. <em>The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Ar</em>t. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011.
	page number: 	cat. no. 3
	url:		

	Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann.<em> Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 54–55
	url:		

---

IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260.a/1963.260.a_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260.a/1963.260.a_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260.a/1963.260.a_full.tif