Bronze (Do), Woman Grooming Pekingese Dog, from the series "The Five Metals (Gokin no uchi)"

This Art Institute of Chicago surimono is from Hokkei's series Gokin no uchi (The Five Metals), in which each design corresponds to one of the five traditional metals - in this case Do, bronze. The series exemplifies the mitate cleverness that distinguished Hokkei's most accomplished work: rather than depicting bronze objects directly, the design presents a woman grooming a Pekingese dog. The connection between metal and image was made through inscribed kyoka verses that activated allusions invisible to the contemporary viewer without poetic knowledge - perhaps a play on the color bronze, on bronze objects associated with such domestic scenes, or on a classical poem that used bronze metaphorically. Pekingese dogs were exotic imported pets prized by Yoshiwara courtesans and elite merchant households, making the subject doubly fashionable. Hokkei renders the woman with characteristic elegance and the dog with attentive observation. The Gokin no uchi series shows the surimono tradition at its most intellectually playful - a series whose unifying theme would have been opaque without poetic decoding, and which delighted kyoka circles by demanding precisely that decoding. The Art Institute's impression preserves the refined printing.