Autumn, from the series Women’s Pleasures of the Four Seasons

Autumn, from the series Women’s Pleasures of the Four Seasons

Utagawa Kuniyoshi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

After governmental restrictions of the 1840s were loosened, Kuniyoshi made a sumptuous series of prints of women in the four seasons. All four of the triptychs in the series present three women with a child. This print, the best of the four, illustrates the women and a boy viewing the moon from boats. The misty clouds covering the moon are delicately depicted with light ink and silver powder (presently tarnished). Kuniyoshi included a severely cropped bridge support pole in the right border and arranged the reflection of the lantern in the waves In the cartouche at the upper right corner a poem by Genkō is inscribed "Look at that, then look up at the sky, and admire the moon with geese."

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Autumn, from the series Women’s Pleasures of the Four SeasonsAutumn, from the series Women’s Pleasures of the Four SeasonsAutumn, from the series Women’s Pleasures of the Four SeasonsAutumn, from the series Women’s Pleasures of the Four SeasonsAutumn, from the series Women’s Pleasures of the Four Seasons

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.