Mice and Eggs, Nakajima Yūshō

Artwork Overview

Image not available
Nakajima Yūshō, artist
1837–1905
Mice and Eggs, 1800s
Where object was made: Japan
Material/technique: ink; color; silk
Credit line: Gift of Jay Gates, Director, Spencer Museum of Art, 1984–1987
Accession number: 2013.0208
Not on display
Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Label texts

Nature/Natural

A mouse is lying on the table after eating an egg as big as himself. The greedy mouse cannot move his ballon-like body. Another mouse pulls his tail to help him move, but the effort proves futile. This humorous scene, though natual in its depiction, is carefully constructed from the artist’s imagination.

Nakajima Yūshō was a son of Nakajima Raishō (1796-1871), who belonged to the Maruyama school of painting that thrived in Kyoto from the late 18th to early 19th century. Yūshō learned how to paint from his father. In this paiting, Yūshō realistically represents objects by sketching from life. At the same time, he embellishes them with his imagination, contributing to the humor of the scene. Fusing naturalism with humor, Yūshō softens and enlivens a painting that would otherwise achieve a photographic likeness.

Nature/Natural

A mouse is lying on the table after eating an egg as big as himself. The greedy mouse cannot move his ballon-like body. Another mouse pulls his tail to help him move, but the effort proves futile. This humorous scene, though natual in its depiction, is carefully constructed from the artist’s imagination.

Nakajima Yusho was a son of Nakajima Raisho (1796-1871), who belonged to the Maruyama school of painting that thrived in Kyoto from the late 18th to early 19th century. Yusho learned how to paint from his father. In this paiting, Yusho realistically represents objects by sketching from life. At the same time, he embellishes them with his imagination, contributing to the humor of the scene. Fusing naturalism with humor, Yusho softens and enlivens a painting that would otherwise achieve a photographic likeness.

Exhibition Label:
"Nature/Natural," Jan-2014, Kris Ercums
A mouse is lying on the table after eating an egg as big as himself. The greedy mouse cannot move his ballon-like body. Another mouse pulls his tail to help him move, but the effort proves futile. This humorous scene, though natual in its depiction, is carefully constructed from the artist’s imagination.

Nakajima Yūshō was a son of Nakajima Raishō (1796-1871), who belonged to the Maruyama school of painting that thrived in Kyoto from the late 18th to early 19th century. Yūshō learned how to paint from his father. In this paiting, Yūshō realistically represents objects by sketching from life. At the same time, he embellishes them with his imagination, contributing to the humor of the scene. Fusing naturalism with humor, Yūshō softens and enlivens a painting that would otherwise achieve a photographic likeness.

Exhibitions

Nature/Natural
Kris Ercums, curator
2011–2014
Nature/Natural
Kris Ercums, curator
2011–2014