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The design on this writing box shows a courtesan who has just completed an impressive feat of spitting the term<em> shinobukoi</em> (忍恋), which could be translated as “hidden love” or “unrequited love,” on an earthen wall. The phrase appeared in classical Japanese poetry anthologies produced by nobles writing in ink on the finest decorated papers. Here, the confining walls of the brothel district become a space for public announcement in graffiti, with the medium being perhaps tea.
Page data
- Page
- 1
- Source index
- 0
- Type
- photo
- Media ID
- 01b256b49568ab4c
- Size
- unknown
Document data
- ID
- 139450
- Core
- obj
- Type
- object
DTO data
{
"id": "139450",
"contentType": "object",
"title": "Writing Box with Spitting Courtesan",
"description": "The design on this writing box shows a courtesan who has just completed an impressive feat of spitting the term<em> shinobukoi</em> (忍恋), which could be translated as “hidden love” or “unrequited love,” on an earthen wall. The phrase appeared in classical Japanese poetry anthologies produced by nobles writing in ink on the finest decorated papers. Here, the confining walls of the brothel district become a space for public announcement in graffiti, with the medium being perhaps tea.",
"date": "early to mid-1800s",
"citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.260",
"rights": "CC0",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"wikidata": [
"Q80036460"
],
"genreSpecific": [
"Lacquer"
],
"iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260/1963.260_web.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260/1963.260_web.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260/1963.260_web.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensionsRaw": "Box: 21.6 x 19.8 x 3.2 cm (8 1/2 x 7 13/16 x 1 1/4 in.); Closed: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.); Cover: 20.7 x 20.7 cm (8 1/8 x 8 1/8 in.)",
"cul": [
"Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)"
],
"accession": "1963.26"
}
Context sent to Scholar
Document identity
{
"localId": "139450",
"label": "Writing Box with Spitting Courtesan",
"core": "obj",
"dtoType": "object"
}
Document source metadata
{
"id": "139450",
"contentType": "object",
"title": "Writing Box with Spitting Courtesan",
"description": "The design on this writing box shows a courtesan who has just completed an impressive feat of spitting the term<em> shinobukoi</em> (忍恋), which could be translated as “hidden love” or “unrequited love,” on an earthen wall. The phrase appeared in classical Japanese poetry anthologies produced by nobles writing in ink on the finest decorated papers. Here, the confining walls of the brothel district become a space for public announcement in graffiti, with the medium being perhaps tea.",
"date": "early to mid-1800s",
"citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.260",
"rights": "CC0",
"rightsUri": "CC0",
"language": "en",
"wikidata": [
"Q80036460"
],
"genreSpecific": [
"Lacquer"
],
"iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260/1963.260_web.jpg",
"thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260/1963.260_web.jpg",
"largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260/1963.260_web.jpg",
"imageCount": 1,
"source": "import",
"dimensionsRaw": "Box: 21.6 x 19.8 x 3.2 cm (8 1/2 x 7 13/16 x 1 1/4 in.); Closed: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.); Cover: 20.7 x 20.7 cm (8 1/8 x 8 1/8 in.)",
"cul": [
"Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)"
],
"accession": "1963.26"
}
Document source extras
{
"tec": "Lacquered wood with maki-e (image made of sprinkled gold dust)",
"tombstone": "Writing Box with Spitting Courtesan (唾を吐く遊女蒔絵硯箱), early to mid-1800s. Japan, Edo period (1615–1868). Lacquered wood with maki-e (image made of sprinkled gold dust); box: 21.6 x 19.8 x 3.2 cm (8 1/2 x 7 13/16 x 1 1/4 in.); closed: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.); cover: 20.7 x 20.7 cm (8 1/8 x 8 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Worcester R. Warner Collection, 1963.260",
"titleInOriginalLanguage": "唾を吐く遊女蒔絵硯箱",
"collection": "Japanese Art",
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1963.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 50, no. 10 (1963): 263–294.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: no. 64, p. 292; Reproduced: no. 64, p. 284",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25151974"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 285",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n309"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 285",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n309"
},
{
"citation": "Pekarik, Andrew. <em>Japanese Lacquer, 1600-1900: Selections from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection</em>. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980.",
"page_number": "Comparative material from the Charles A. Greenfield Collection reproduced: cover, color plate no. 22, p. 78",
"url": "ps://books.google.com/books?id=Frw1vEmyHSMC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false"
},
{
"citation": "Sŏn, Sŭng-hye. <em>The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Ar</em>t. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011.",
"page_number": "cat. no. 3"
},
{
"citation": "Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann.<em> Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 54–55"
},
{
"citation": "Franklin, David. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd., 2012.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 54 - 55"
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.260",
"creditline": "Worcester R. Warner Collection",
"updatedAt": "2026-05-29 07:08:34.639000",
"imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260/1963.260_print.jpg",
"sourceId": 139450,
"dept": "Japanese Art",
"coll": "Japanese Art",
"med": "Lacquered wood with maki-e (image made of sprinkled gold dust)",
"thumbnail_url": null,
"image_url": null
}
Page context
{
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"type": "photo",
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1963.260/1963.260_web.jpg",
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