Zodiac calendar with holder in the shape of a hanging scroll 1846

This is a zodiac calendar with a holder, in the shape of a hanging scroll, made by Shibata Zeshin, sometime in the 19th century. The calendar blends the traditional with the modern, and speaks to Japan’s transformation during the Meiji Restoration. The hanging scroll format is a nod to traditional Japanese art. But it's also a calendar, a distinctly modern object, necessary for organizing daily life in an increasingly industrialized society. The image of the rooster, one of the twelve animals of the zodiac, further roots the object in Japanese culture. Zeshin, trained in both traditional lacquer techniques and Western painting styles, was very conscious of the fraught relationship between the local and global. Careful archival work helps us to see how seemingly simple objects like this one were embedded in complex social and cultural transformations. The study of material culture helps us better understand how people experienced those transformations in their daily lives.