Untitled

Okumura Masanobu

ca. 1715 · Monochrome woodblock print (sumie); ink on paper · Asian Art

In a highly amusing and complicated mitate version of this legend, Xu You appears as an embarrassed, two-timing Edo lover and Chao Fu as his reproachful mistress. He is washing out his ears in a desperate effort to convince her that he knows absolutely nothing of a letter from her rival. The letter discovered by the mistress is seen in the mouth of her cat. The classical allusion is veiled in the painted cascade that is part of the interior decor.

Artist

Okumura Masanobu

Date

ca. 1715

Medium

Monochrome woodblock print (sumie); ink on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

The Howard Mansfield Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936