Asianart.com | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries

Visitors' Forum

Asian Art Forums - Reply Message
Asian Art Forums

Message Listing by Date:
Message Index | Back | Post a New Message | Search | Private Mail | FAQ
Subject:What are they doing on this image ?
Posted By: Stephane Jardonnet Sat, Sep 18, 2021 IP: 2600:1700:4394:5000:
What are they doing on this print from Hokusai from the 100 Fashionable Comic Verses series ?



Subject:Re: What are they doing on this image ?
Posted By: Marc S Kahn Sat, Sep 18, 2021
That's an abacus between them. This looks to me like a negotiation. The person on the left has just made some kind of an offer, and used the abacus calculator to justify that offer. The offer is being laughed off by the person on the right. I think it's early in the negotiation. Eventually, they'll come to terms somewhere in the middle.

Hokusai was an acute observer of human behavior, and a skillful renderer of caricatures. Nice print!

Subject:Re: What are they doing on this image ?
Posted By: I.Nagy Sat, Sep 18, 2021
My assumptions about the situation,
Version 1,
Discussion over interest between lender (left) and borrower (right) using an abacus.
Vesrsion 2,
The price of something is being negotiated. The seller (right) shows the intended selling price and the buyer (left) shows the intemded buying price on the abacus in turn. A traditional way of bargaining in Japan.
etc.

With regards,
I.Nagy

Post a Reply
Name:
Email:
Group: China & Japan
Subject:
Message:
Link URL:
Enter here the complete URL of any site, page or image you would like to show other visitors.
URL Title:
Enter here the title of the link you've given above. This will appear to the visitor. Eg., if you are linking another picture, enter "Another picture". The link will not appear without a title.
Image URL:
Enter here the URL of an image if it is already uploaded on the web. The image will appear with your posting. Do not post pictures which are not yours without permission from the copyright holder. It is the responsibility of each poster to make sure they have permission to use any photos they post.
Image: You may upload up to three images. If you would like to upload more images to this message please do so by replying to this same message.

Please make sure the file type is JPEG or GIF and the filename does not contain spaces.




Use the Browse button to find an image (jpg or gif) on a local drive on your computer to upload for including with your message. Do not upload images with file names containing spaces. Please do not upload files larger than 500 KB in size. Do not post pictures which are not yours without permission from the copyright holder. It is the responsibility of each poster to make sure they have permission to use any photos they post. Check the "email notification" box below if you would like to be notified of any responses to your message.
Check here for email notification.
Security Code: Security Image: please enter the text appears in this image.

Please type in the code you see in the image directly above this input box.

Subject:Re: What are they doing on this image ?
Posted By: Stephane Jardonnet Mon, Sep 20, 2021
Thank you for the information

Subject:Re: What are they doing on this image ?
Posted By: Steve Gridley Mon, Sep 20, 2021
My opinion: Since I see no item to be negotiated, I think another option would be teacher and student. I can remember looks like that in school, especially if students made fun of the teacher.

Asianart.com | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries |