id:			172603
accession number:	2015.85
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2015.85
updated:		2023-03-22 03:05:09.007000

Beauty with Fireflies, early 1800s. After Kubo Shunman (Japanese, 1757–1820). Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk (ivory roller ends); mounted: 181.5 x 45.6 cm (71 7/16 x 17 15/16 in.); painting: 95.6 x 33.2 cm (37 5/8 x 13 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Kelvin Smith Family 2015.85

title:				Beauty with Fireflies
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			early 1800s
creation date earliest:		1800
creation date latest:		1825
current location:		
creditline:			Gift of the Kelvin Smith Family
copyright:			

---

culture:	Japan, Edo period (1615-1868)
technique:	Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk (ivory roller ends)
department:	Japanese Art
collection:	ASIAN - Hanging scroll
type:		Painting
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

---

CREATORS

* Kubo Shunman (Japanese, 1757–1820)  - artist

---

measurements: Mounted: 181.5 x 45.6 cm (71 7/16 x 17 15/16 in.); Painting: 95.6 x 33.2 cm (37 5/8 x 13 1/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

	inscription:	Signed at lower left: Shosado Shunman  
Sealed at lower left: round red seal; Shunman

	translation:	
	remark:		

---

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

---

LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

---

PROVENANCE

	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 2015-present
	date: 2015-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


---

fun fact:


digital description:
A young woman has passed beneath an aged willow tree as she strolls along a riverbank carrying a cage full of fireflies. The painting is the work of Kubo Shunman, best known as a composer of witty verses in 31-syllables (kyōka) and designer of limited edition prints called surimono. Shunman was active during the mature era of ukiyo-e production, and his more formal paintings, such as this one, most often took as their subjects beautiful Chinese or Japanese women. Here, he commemorates one of summer's most delightful evening pastimes, the observation of the flickering lights of the firefly. The woman is presented in a ubiquitous summer setting, a refreshingly cool and breezy riverbank in earshot of rustling willow leaves.

wall description:

---

RELATED WORKS

---

CITATIONS

---

IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2015.85/2015.85_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2015.85/2015.85_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2015.85/2015.85_full.tif