TY - JOUR AU - Fitski, Menno AU - van Valen, Lucien PY - 2019/09/15 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - A Hishikawa School Screen Uncovered JF - The Rijksmuseum Bulletin JA - RB VL - 67 IS - 3 SE - Articles DO - 10.52476/trb.9733 UR - https://bulletin.rijksmuseum.nl/article/view/9733 SP - 216-233 AB - <p>The restoration of a Japanese eight-fold screen, accompanied by art-historical study and research into materials and techniques has greatly enhanced the understanding of the object. Each side bears a painting and it was found that the<br />oldest painting depicts the world of entertainment in Edo in the late seventeenth century, with a portrayal of the Nakamura theatre, holding a performance of the early <em>kabuki</em> play <em>Coming and Going to Takayasu</em>, featuring the then popular actor of women’s roles Tamagawa Sennojō. The source of this scene is an illustration from a 1678 book by Hishikawa Moronobu, <em>Tales of Actors Past and Present</em>. Also, there is an outing to view the cherry blossoms by the Yoshiwara brothel Myōgaya. The other side was fitted in the mid nineteenth century with a specially commissioned painting of an autumn landscape by the painter Itabashi Tsurao, using high-quality pigments. The provenance of the screen has been traced back to 1924, to the dealer Felix Tikotin. It was acquired by Herman Karel Westendorp, the first<br />chairman of the Royal Asian Art Society in the Netherlands, the present owner, to whom Westendorp sold it in 1931.</p> ER -