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Fan Kuai Drinking from a Gigantic Wine Cup

Fan Kuai Drinking from a Gigantic Wine Cup

Totoya Hokkei

This work by the artist Hokkei is a surimono or privately commissioned print. It depicts the military general Fan Kuai (died 189 BCE), who is known as Hankai in Japanese. The image illustrates the poem in the upper right corner, which recounts a time in Fan Kuai’s life when his ability to drink large amounts of alcohol saved the future Chinese emperor from assassination. The artist underscored the amount Fan Kuai drank by exaggerating the cup’s size and accentuating the drink with embossed waves.
Artist
Totoya Hokkei
(Japanese, 1780 - 1850)
Title
Fan Kuai Drinking from a Gigantic Wine Cup
Date
ca. 1820-1830
Medium
Color woodcut
Dimensions
208 x 179 mm Overall
Credit
Bequest of John H. Van Vleck
Accession No.
1980.2306
Classification
Prints
Geography
Japan

Related

ca. 1873-1922, Hamilton Easter Field (New York, NY); Collection of Mrs. J. Harriot Goodell (New Haven, CT); 1916, purchased by Edward Burr Van Vleck (Madison, WI); 1943, passed through inheritance to Edward’s son, John H. Van Vleck (Cambridge, MA); 9 January 1980, bequeathed by John H. Van Vleck to the Elvehjem Museum of Art [now called Chazen Museum of Art]

  • Osumi, Takeshige, ed. "Edward Burr Van Vleck Collection Ukiyo-e Masterpieces Exhibition." Tokyo: Bun You Associates, 1999.
  • Elvehjem Museum of Art. "The Edward Burr Van Vleck Collection of Japanese Prints." Madison: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1990. p. 205

  • Japanese Masterworks: Woodblock Prints from the Chazen Museum of Art Collection: Chazen Museum of Art, 5/6/2016–8/14/2016
  • Edward Burr Van Vleck Collection: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 10/13/1999–6/30/2000
  • Van Vleck Collection of Japanese Prints, The: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 10/7/1990–11/25/1990

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