Hover to zoom or click for full-size image.
Toyokuni III/Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864)
Oshidori no Jourei (Ghost of Mallards). 9/1860
- Category
- Japanese | 20th Century
- Series
- Tori Zukushi (Picture List of Birds).
- Publisher
- Otaya Takichi.
oban tate-e, 26.0 cm × 37.8 cm
Very good impression and colour. A water mark in the sky, otherwise very good condition. Large oban sheet.
The actor Nakamura Shikan IV performing the role of Eno no Shoryo (the Ghost of the Mallard) at the Ichimura Theatre, Edo during the ninth month, 1860.
He wears a special wig that evokes the ducks feathers, ruffled by the breeze. The spirits of male and female mandarin ducks were a popular subject in Kabuki theatre, derived from Chinese legend. Adaptations of the dance-drama "Oshidori" appear in Kabuki, especially in the 1850's, when Kuniyoshi and Kunisada designed triptychs on the subject. Signed ni konomi Toyokuni ga.
Sold
Hover to zoom or click for full-size image.
Toyokuni III/Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864)
View of Kakegawa (Kakegawa no zu)
- Category
- Japanese | 20th Century
- Series
- Fifty-three Stations of the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô gojûsan tsugi no uchi)
- Publisher
- Moriya Jihei (Kinshindô)
- Engraver
- we
chuban tate-e, 18.6 cm × 26.0 cm
Excellent impression, colour and condition.
Plate 27 from a series of chuban prints depicting beauties with scenes from Hiroshige's Tokaido. The beauty proffers a maple leaf branch. Mount Akiba is printed in shades of blue and green, and a kite blows over the travellers crossing a tressle bridge. In the distance, peasants work in the rice fields. Signed Kochoro Kunisada ga.
Sold
Hover to zoom or click for full-size image.
Toyokuni III/Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864)
Asao Kuzaemon III. Nagamori
- Category
- Japanese | Actors And Kabuki
- Series
- A Contest of Magicians.
- Publisher
- Hiranoya Shinzo
oban tate-e, 26.0 cm × 39.0 cm
Excellent impression with beautiful blind printing and mica highlights. Excellent colour and condition.
Onoe Kikugorō III in the role of Kume no Heinaizaemon Nagamori, from the series A contest of magicians by Toyokuni (Toyokuni kigo kijutsu kurabe). This late series is luxuriously printed. Published by Hiranoya Shinzo in 1863. Signed Nanajūkūsai Toyokuni hitsu, the 90-year old Toyokuni.
£1650
Hover to zoom or click for full-size image.
Toyokuni III/Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864)
Actor Sawamura Tossho II as Sasaki Gennosuke. 1863.
- Category
- Japanese | 20th Century
- Series
- Large head actor portraits. Okubi-e.
- Publisher
- Ebisuya Shoshichi
- Blockcutter
- hori kō Ryūsan
oban, 28.0 cm × 40.0 cm
Excellent impression on thick, deluxe hosho. Excellent colour and condition.
The actor Sawamura Tossho II in the role of Sasaki Gennosuke, from the play Hana ayame katami ezoshi. This is from Kunisada’s late masterpiece series of half-length actor portraits, okubi-e, and the surimono style prints exemplify some of the finest examples of woodblock printing techniques, with exquisite blind printing, lacquer and mica highlights. The blockcutter is Horikô Ryûzô. Signed Nanajûhassai Toyokuni hitsu, by the 90 year old Toyokuni, in the toshidama cartouche. Another impression at the MFA, Boston.
Sold
Hover to zoom or click for full-size image.
Toyokuni III/Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864)
The Picture Contest. E-awase.
- Category
- Japanese | Miscellaneous
- Series
- Lasting Impressions of a Late Genji Collection.
- Publisher
- Sakanaya Eikichi.
- Blockcutter
- Yokogawa Takejirô.
- Engraver
- we
oban diptych, 53.0 cm × 38.0 cm
Very good impression and colour. A repaired wormhole, and very slight toning to the right sheet, otherwise very good condition.
The Picture Contest, 'E-awase' from the series, Genji goshû yojô. The series illustrates scenes loosely based on A Rustic Genji and A Related Rustic Village. The prints were luxuriously produced on thick paper, with fine bokashi, burnishing and blind printing, as evident in this example. Signed Toyokuni ga, with publisher and the blockcutter seals also attributed. Printed II/1858.
£280
Hover to zoom or click for full-size image.
Toyokuni III/Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864)
Bando Hikosaburo V as 'Rinchū likened to Shirōsaburō' 1859.
- Category
- Japanese | 20th Century
- Series
- Tōsei suikoden.
- Publisher
- Hayashiya Shōgorō
oban tate-e, 24.5 cm × 36.5 cm
Very good impression, colour and condition.
A bust portrait of the actor Bandō Hikosaburō V wearing a magnificent kimono, decorated with a hawk in flight over pine trees. The actor reaches for his sword and his outstretched arm reveals a cherry blossom tattoo. He is imitating the tattoo of Hyoshito Rinchu (Lin Chong trans: head of the leopard) in the story Suikoden, based on the classical Chinese novel Shui Hu Zhuan (Outlaws of the Marsh). The night sky and silhouetted bamboo stalks provide a muted backdrop to this dynamic design.
Signed 'ni konomi Toyokuni ga'
Sold
Hover to zoom or click for full-size image.
Toyokuni III/Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864)
The Fireflies. Chapter No.25.
- Category
- Japanese | Beauties
- Series
- Lasting Impressions of a Late Genji Collection.
- Publisher
- Wakasaya Yoichi.
- Blockcutter
- Suguwa Sennosuke.
Oban tate-e, 26.4 cm × 38.0 cm
Superb impression and colour. A very small bleed of the red around the cartouche, otherwise very good condition. Full size sheet.
The left sheet of the diptych from Chapter No.25 “The Fireflies. Hotaru” from the series, Genji goshû yojô. The series illustrates scenes loosely based on A Rustic Genji and A Related Rustic Village. The prints were luxuriously produced on thick paper, with fine bokashi, burnishing and blind printing, as evident in this example. Signed Toyokuni ga, with publisher’s seal
£190