Two formally dressed rats about to execute the first calligraphy of the year

Dated 1888, this surimono is one of Zeshin's most charming late prints: two rats, formally dressed in human attire, prepare to perform the kakizome - the first calligraphy of the New Year, a traditional Japanese ritual on the second day of the first month. The image belongs to a long tradition of anthropomorphized animal scenes in Edo and Meiji popular art, where animals stand in for human types and customs with a gentle satirical edge. The rat had particular New Year resonance as both a zodiac animal and a figure of household life, and Zeshin's pair, brush in hand, captures the ceremonial earnestness of the day with humor and affection. The Art Institute of Chicago catalogues the print to 1888, when Zeshin was in his eighties and still producing surimono of unusual inventiveness. Composed with the spareness he brought to all his late sheets, the print shows how thoroughly he had absorbed the conventions of kyoka illustration and how confidently he could play against them.