Evening Glow of a Lamp (Andon no sekisho), from the series "Eight Views of the Parlor (Zashiki hakkei)"

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Look at the tall paper lamp, the glow of the title, then at the young woman reading in its light and the writing box at her knee.

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Eight Views of the Parlor, a set of eight prints from 1766, turns famous themes of the Xiao and Xiang rivers in China, each with its own poetic title, into witty puns set indoors. Here the old theme of sunset glow over a fishing village becomes the light of a tall paper lamp. A poetry-circle member who wrote as Kyosen is thought to have produced the set, hiring Harunobu and the printer.

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Color woodblock print; chuban · 27.7 × 19.7 cm · Art Institute of Chicago

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Museum title: Evening Glow of a Lamp (Andon no sekisho), from the series "Eight Views of the Parlor (Zashiki hakkei)"
Artist: Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信 Japanese, 1725 (?)-1770
Date: c. 1766
Medium: Color woodblock print; chuban
Dimensions: 27.7 × 19.7 cm (10 7/8 × 7 3/4 in.)
Credit line: Clarence Buckingham Collection
Image license: CC0 1.0 · Public domain
Museum record: Art Institute of Chicago

Ukiyo-e c. 1600–1900

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Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.

Evening Glow of a Lamp (Andon no sekisho), from the series "Eight Views of the Parlor (Zashiki hakkei)"

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