Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments and tsuyazuri
height 208 mm × width 186 mm
Utagawa Kunisada (I)
Woman Seated in Front of an Offering Stand
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan, 1834
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer Kunsthandel Huys den Esch, Dodewaard, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1984;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-544
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
Context
In spite of its seriestitle that suggests a four-sheet composition, it is most likely a pentaptych portraying six actors.
The actors are portrayed after the performance of the play Shitenno gekijo yorihatsu, staged in XI/1833 at the Morita Theatre.2 The scene illustrates one of the many events in the life of Minamoto no Yorimitsu (d.1021), popularly known as Raiko. In this case, the Shitenno, originally the Four Heavenly Kings and generally denoting any group of outstanding figures in a certain profession, refers to his retainers Watanabe no Tsuna, Usui no Sadamitsu, Urabe no Suetaka, and Sakata no Kintoki. Being designed after the kaomise (‘showing the faces’) performances, it is virtually impossible to establish the correct sequence of this multi-sheet composition or to identify the actors and their roles more accurately than in the attempt here.
For the other known prints in the pentaptych(?), see:
4: Segawa Michinosuke II (d. 1861, acted under this name until 1859) as Misaki, the wife of Hirotsuna, dancing;3
5: Unidentified actor as Okume, the daughter of Ohara, seated by a stand with New Year’s decorations - MFA 00.1944.
The artist
Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) was a pupil of Utagawa Toyokuni, who dominated the field of kabuki prints until his death. Kunisada's prints of beautiful women, bijinga, were also very successful. Only well after he had established himself as a designer of actor prints did he enter the world of surimono design, becoming the most prolific designer of surimono in the Utagawa tradition. He also used the art-names Ichiyusai, Gototei and Kochoro.
Entry
A woman wearing a black over-kimono with a large emblem called the ‘clove-wheel’, chojiguruma, seated in front of an offering stand.
Osagawa Tsuneyo IV (dates unknown, acted under this name from 1823-?) as Sono the wife of Raiko, seated in front of an offering stand.
Three poems by Bunsosha Matsutoshi, Bunkosha Funatsumi and Bunkinsha Ononaga.
Print from the series The Four Heavenly Kings for the Katsushika Poetry Club, Katsushika shitenno
Issued by the Katsushikaren
Signature reading: Kochoro Kunisada ga, with Toshidama rings
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 562
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa (I) Kunisada, Woman Seated in Front of an Offering Stand, Japan, 1834', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.446787
(accessed 23 November 2024 18:17:16).