Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit

ca. 1780

Not on view

During the Edo period, as a winter amusement, children often made snow sculptures and the two most popular types were the snow rabbit (yuki usagi) and the snow Daruma (yuki Daruma). This image transports a children’s outdoor pastime into an elegant interior setting where a woman, probably the boy’s mother, paints on the eyes of a snow rabbit he holds on a lacquer tray. The seated woman wears an obi decorated with chrysanthemum flowers, while the standing younger woman has a kimono with summer hydrangeas—a reminder that people often wore garments with unseasonal references to distract from frigid or humid weather. Instead of using berries to fashion the eyes of the snow rabbit, they are being painted on as if it were a Daruma figure, on which one eye is painted when setting a goal or making a wish

Artwork Details

雪兎図
Title: Painting the Eyes on a Snow Rabbit
Artist: Isoda Koryūsai (Japanese, 1735–ca. 1790)
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: ca. 1780
Culture: Japan
Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions: Image: 23 3/4 in. × 16 in. (60.3 × 40.6 cm)
Overall with mounting: 62 1/4 in. × 23 in. (158.1 × 58.4 cm)
Overall with knobs: 62 1/4 × 24 3/4 in. (158.1 × 62.9 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Charles Stewart Smith Collection, Gift of Mrs. Charles Stewart Smith, Charles Stewart Smith Jr., and Howard Caswell Smith, in memory of Charles Stewart Smith, 1914
Object Number: 14.76.32
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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Courtesan-Dancer (Shirabyōshi) for the New Year, Isoda Koryūsai Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Japan — Courtesan-Dancer (Shirabyōshi) for the New Year
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