Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments
height 206 mm × width 183 mm
Utagawa Kunisada (I)
Standing Lord in Blue Over-Kimono
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan, c. 1825 - c. 1830
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer Kunsthandel Huys den Esch, Dodewaard, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1987;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-648
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
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 man wearing blueish formal court-trousers, hakama, leaning on a sword.
The man is the kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII in the role of a lord. Ichikawa Danjuro VII (1791-1859) acted under this name from XI/1800 to III/1832, when he adopted the name Ichikawa Ebizo V.
Three poems by Bunritsuen Bikkokoto, Bunsaisha Fudemaru and Shofudai [Teitei, also Kunmatei and Junnando, a judge of the Kankogawa and the elder brother of Bunbunsha Kanikomaru].2
The poems are rather conventional, speaking respectively of the effects of ‘the Spring breeze on the mist’, the appearance of ‘the moon seen through the New Year decorations which move in the wind’ and ‘the dawn of Spring when the mist on Mount Chichibu dissolves’.
Issued by followers of the poet Shofudai Teitei
Signature reading: Gototei Kunisada ga, with Toshidama rings
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 555
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa (I) Kunisada, Standing Lord in Blue Over-Kimono, Japan, c. 1825 - c. 1830', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.446784
(accessed 27 December 2024 04:44:00).