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Two Women and a Child Beside a Goldfish Tank by Katsushika Hokusai — Japanese color woodblock print, c. 1800

Two Women and a Child Beside a Goldfish Tank

by Katsushika Hokusai

Date:
c. 1800
Medium:
color woodblock print
Format:
Oban
Dimensions:
51.4 × 19.8 cm

Description

Two women and a child stand beside a large decorative goldfish tank, watching the fish circle within the glass or lacquer basin in this color woodblock print from around 1800. Goldfish keeping was a fashionable hobby among affluent Edo families, and the round tank with its vivid orange-and-white fish would have been a household treasure — the child's rapt attention to the swirling fish suggesting the same delight that animated Hokusai's own interest in the natural world.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Two Women and a Child Beside a Goldfish Tank was created by Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎) in c. 1800.

Two Women and a Child Beside a Goldfish Tank depicts fish, children, and animals.

Two Women and a Child Beside a Goldfish Tank measures 51.4 × 19.8 cm (Oban format).