About Me

My photo
Washington, United States
loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

this horse is getting away...with it?

 E-Goyomi (Horse and Hand Holding Brush), 1786-1787.
Color print, 4 1/2 x 3 3/4 in. (11.5 x 9.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, By exchange, 37.445
no known restrictions on copyright
This capering horse is so cleverly drawn that the artist could not forbear to include his own gifted hand making the magic happen.  That in itself was enough to make me grin, but as it happens this Japanese print of 1786-7 has another goodie up its sleeve: it's an egoyomi, a calendar in which the names of the months are hidden in the work somewhere.  (Here is a good short introduction to the idea of egoyomi.)  I think some of the months' names are in the medallions to the sides; what about the others?  I think they are cleverly hidden in the horse himself.

No comments: