Portrait of a Rabbit

Arts of Asia

1867

Yabu Chosui
Japanese, 1814-c. 1870

A large rabbit fills the entire surface of this print, indicating that it was created in the year of the rabbit. The curious, sacklike quality of the rabbit’s body is also a reference to the large white bag of Hotei, one of the gods of good fortune, who often appears on New Year visual art. The rabbit’s body is also rounded out to suggest a lopsided moon (the home of the rice-pounding rabbit), which is emphasized by its silvery outline. Finally, there is an allusion to the most common New Year symbol, the rising sun. Although the rising sun is usually represented as a luminous, round body against an orange sky, Yabu Chosui showed it as a rising lopsided rabbit against a flaming pink background.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Asia

Artist: Yabu Chosui
Title: Portrait of a Rabbit
Place: Japan (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1867
Medium: Color woodblock print; surimono
Dimensions: 24.9 × 18.3 cm (9 13/16 × 7 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Charles H. Mitchell Collection unrestricted gift
Reference Number: 1972.1434
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/42068/manifest.json

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.