View of the Sumida River (Sumida shukukei 墨水縮景),

ca. 1850s

ca. 1850s

Asia, Japan

This is a collaborative painting by two sisters: Hirai Renzan and Nagahara Baien, daughters of the painter, lacquer artist, and connoisseur Hirai Kingō (active the first half of the 19th century). Renzan painted the landscape in the background, and Baien the beautiful woman in the foreground. The woman dressed in multiple layers of kimono looks over her shoulder at the view outside of the sliding doors: a boat sailing back to the shore on a snowy evening. Her right hand holds a musical instrument, a Chinese moon-zither. A blue-cover book, titled “musical recital practice,” is lying on the floor in front of her.

The sisters were well educated in painting, calligraphy, and music, and eventually became established figures in the intellectual world of 19th-century Japan. They were famed for their role in the Japanese musical movement called Minshingaku in the latter half of the nineteenth century. This movement, championed by Chinese immigrants in the nineteenth century, brought a new form of music, which was featured the use of various Chinese musical instruments and the chanting of Chinese texts. The musical instrument and the book in the painting make a direct reference to the sisters’ interest in Minshingaku.