Object data
nishikie
height 191 mm × width 129 mm
Utagawa Kunisada (I)
A Picnic
Japan, c. 1810 - c. 1815
Provenance
…; collection Gasai Sadachika, Japan;…; purchased from the dealer Hotei Japanese Prints, Leiden, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1995;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1999
Object number: RP-P-1999-257-9
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
Context
This print, preserved in an album apparently compiled by Gasai Sadachika at the age of 67, in the Autumn of the Year of the Dog in the Kaei period, Kanoe inu, i.e., 1850, containing works predominantly by Settan and other designers, is not only a very early example of a surimono by Kunisada, but also a very early design for a print by him. For more prints from this album, see e.g., RP-P-1999-257-22.
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
On a red mat a shamisen and a picnic-set, two of its compartments next to it.
One poem by Shoshozan(?), with a written seal, kakihan. The poem is a haiku, reading:
A seam opens — all we can glimpse is a curtain of blossoms
— identifying the occasion as a flower-viewing party.
Issued by the poet
Signature reading: Kunisada ga, with Toshidama ring
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 205
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa (I) Kunisada, A Picnic, Japan, c. 1810 - c. 1815', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.363581
(accessed 21 September 2024 19:41:38).