Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments, blindprinting and tsuyazuri
height 205 mm × width 176 mm
Utagawa Kunisada (I)
A Samurai Holding a Helmet
Japan, Japan, Japan, Japan, c. 1821
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer Kunsthandel Huys den Esch, Dodewaard, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1985;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1991
Object number: RP-P-1991-573
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 samurai in a striped kimono, holding a helmet.
The man is the kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII in an unidentified role. Keyes2 illustrates what seems to be a design after the same performance - although the man is shown holding part of a suit of armour in the addition to the helmet - and identifies the man as Danjuro VII in the role of a townsman. 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 Matsunoya Sononari, Mankan Takamori [if identical to the Mugimeshi Takamori in Kano3 earlier Tojuen and Dokugakudo, a judge of the Gogawa], and Shinratei Manzo [II, 1762-1831, earlier Shichichin Manpo].4
The poem by Sononari alludes to the crest of three rice-measures used by the Ichikawa-tradition of actors:
The offering stands are decorated with crayfish and we open the storied boxes of food - piled up like the Mimasumon and the sets of three sake cups.
The poem by Manzo reads:
Playing successful roles like the ancestors - that is the most beautiful essence of the New Year.
Issued by followers of the poet Shinratei Manzo
Signature reading: Gototei Kunisada ga
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 540
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa (I) Kunisada, A Samurai Holding a Helmet, Japan, c. 1821', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.446737
(accessed 21 September 2024 11:38:52).