Accession Number
1987/2.44

Title
Monkey Performance

Artist(s)
Yamawaki Tōki

Object Creation Date
1st half of the 19th century

Medium & Support
2-fold screen, ink, gold dust, and color on paper

Dimensions
58 7/16 in. x 27 3/4 in. ( 148.5 cm x 70.5 cm )

Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund

Subject matter
Monkey performances or Sarumawashi was a common form of entertainment in Edo Japan. This included dressing up and performing comedic skits or showing off acrobatics of Japanese macaques. The artist, Yamawaki Toki was a pupil of Matsumura Goshun and they both shared a love for comedy in their paintings. 

Physical Description
This is a painting on a 2-fold screen with gold dust. The subject is two human figures and a monkey. The background is covered in gold dust. On the leftmost panel is one figure and above him to the left is an inscription, the author's name. Following the writing is a small red seal. The figure is sitting down and smiling towards the right holding a string. On the right panel is the monkey and a person behind it. The monkey is wearing human-like clothes and stands on its hind legs. The person behind it follows and laughs. Although this man is wearing a hat, he is wearing white clothes similar to the man behind him on the other panel. The monkey wears red and a hat.  

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
screen

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Family
child
monkeys