
Two Women and a Child Beside a Goldfish Tank
- Date:
- c. 1800
- Medium:
- color woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Dimensions:
- 51.4 × 19.8 cm
- Source:
- Cleveland Museum of Art
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.
More Prints by Katsushika Hokusai
Hokusai manga (Hokusai Sketchbooks)
19th century
Woodblock-printed book; ink and light color on paper

Fukuroi
1804
Japanese woodblock print

The Fishermen of Katase Hauling in Their Nets: The Purple Shell (Murasakigai)
1821
Color woodblock print with metallic pigments; surimono shikishiban

Burdock Root (Kurama gobo), from the series "A Selection of Horses (Uma-zukushi)"
1822
Color woodblock print; shikishiban, surimono
More Fish Prints
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).



