Analysis of signatures and seals to figure out what they really were as artists

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K00176
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 01060:History of arts-related
• Research Institution: Jissen Women's University
• Principal Investigator: NAKAMACHI Keiko 実践女子大学, 研究推進機構, 研究員 (80141125)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 款記 / 落款 / 印章 / 絵師の社会的な存在形態

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Signatures and Seals seen on the pre-modern Japanese artwork were not only mere signs of the artists but also they themselves give us more information; quantity and quality of intellectual knowledge of the artists, what kind of cultural values they shared, and their social mode of existence as artists.
In this research, I focus on a few distinctive cases as below, compiling a lot of information and examples to consider their cultural and art-historical meanings; bronze-ware shaped seals used by some artists and monks from late Muromachi periods through early Edo, the sharing and succession of seals by Kano school artists from the latter half of Muromachi era through early Edo and Rimpa school artists in Edo period, especially Sotatsu and Korin, the diversification of signatures and seals used by many artist from various schools after the middle of Edo, and special surnames adopted as signatures by Edo period women artists.

Free Research Field

日本美術史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

「款記」と「印章」の分析が、前近代の絵師たちの社会的存在形態の特徴を解明するのに有効な方法のひとつであることを実例によって証明できたことは貴重な成果である。力点を置いたのは、狩野派が用いた鼎形印は絵師集団の帰属性を示す機能や画風の継続性や宗家の継承を表明する役割を担っていたこと、印章は単なる文字情報の伝達装置ではなく形式（印文の字体、外形的類似など）それ自体で意味を有していたこと、江戸時代中期以降にさまざまな絵師が用いた款記と印章は絵師の価値観や知識ばかりでなく、心情・理想・憧憬などを標記する重要な役割を担っていたこと、江戸時代の女性画家が款記に用いた特殊な名字の実態等の諸点である。