Artwork
柴田是真筆籠・菅笠図|Flower Baskets and Farmer's Hat
柴田是真筆籠・菅笠図|Flower Baskets and Farmer's Hat is an ink painting by the Impressionist artist Shibata Zeshin. It dates from 1884 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Rendered as a still life, the composition focuses entirely on these utilitarian items without including human figures or a broader landscape setting.
The work depicts two distinct rural objects: flower baskets and a farmer's hat. Rendered as a still life, the composition focuses entirely on these utilitarian items without including human figures or a broader landscape setting. The title explicitly identifies the subjects as baskets and a hat made of woven materials, likely bamboo or straw, which were common tools in Japanese agricultural life.
By isolating these everyday objects, the piece elevates ordinary tools to the status of artistic subjects, characteristic of the still-life genre.
Technique & Style
Created in 1884 by Shibata Zeshin, this work is an album leaf executed with lacquer, ink, and silver leaf on paper. The composition presents a still-life arrangement featuring flower baskets and a farmer's hat, subjects rendered through the artist's characteristic integration of painting and lacquerware techniques. The application of silver leaf alongside dark lacquer and ink creates a distinct visual contrast on the paper support.
Measuring 12.1 cm in height and 8.9 cm in width, the small-scale format is typical of album leaves intended for intimate viewing. The piece exemplifies Zeshin's mastery in manipulating lacquer to achieve painterly effects within a two-dimensional format.
History & Provenance
Flower Baskets and Farmer's Hat (柴田是真筆籠・菅笠図) is an 1884 album leaf by Shibata Zeshin, executed in lacquer, ink, and silver leaf on paper. Within the still-life genre, it depicts flower baskets and a farmer's hat. The work was produced in Japan and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art among its paintings by Zeshin.
No record of a specific commission exists, and no accession number or exhibition history is recorded in the available sources.
Overview
Shibata Zeshin's Flower Baskets and Farmer's Hat, created around 1884, is a still life rendered on an album leaf. This painting showcases two common objects, a woven basket and a straw hat, depicted with a distinctive application of lacquer. Zeshin's innovative use of materials elevates these everyday items, presenting them with a unique tactile quality and subtle luminescence.
Artist & collection
