The Shika Teahouse

Description

Exotic birds and tobacco—Western imports—feature in this composition. Peacocks and parrots were brought to Japan by Dutch traders in the 1700s. Many of the visitors to this teahouse, which specialized in displays of foreign birds, admire the unusual fowl while sipping tea and smoking long pipes. The birds have attracted curious courtesans, entertainers, samurai, merchants and their wives, and even a Buddhist monk.

Provenance

Mr. Jeptha Homer Wade II [1857–1926] and Mrs. Ellen Garretson Wade [1859–1917], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art (?–1916); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1916–)

The Shika Teahouse

Utagawa Toyokuni

early 1790s

Accession Number

1916.1113

Medium

Triptych of color woodblock prints

Dimensions

Each: 39.2 x 26.4 cm (15 7/16 x 10 3/8 in.)

Classification

Print

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade