Object data
nishikie, with metallic pigments and blindprinting
height 191 mm × width 124 mm
Utagawa Kunisada (I) (attributed to)
Woman Reading a Letter
Japan, c. 1825 - c. 1830
Provenance
…; purchased from the dealer Hasegawa, Japan, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1994;1 by whom donated to the museum, 1995
Object number: RP-P-1995-285
Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse
Copyright: Public domain
Context
The Seven Komachi, Nana Komachi, are a common group of prints illustrating events from the life of the famous poetess Ono no Komachi, most of which can also be traced back to (partially lost) No plays. For a more extensive discussion, see David Waterhouse, Harunobu and his Age. London 1964, pp. 297-302.
The following designs from this series have been identified:
Shimizu (At the Kiyomizu Temple): Actor watering a miniature cherry tree - NME, Leiden, 564-1a-b;
Soshi arai (Washing the manuscript);
Kayoi (The wandering Komachi);
Sotoba (Among the tombs): An actor in a female role seated on a bench - NME, Leiden, 564-1a.
The Katsushika Mimasuren, apparently a subdivision of the Katsushika poetry club, is otherwise only known from an untitled pentaptych on the Soga drama designed by Gakutei in c. 1823 (see RP-P-1958-416).
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 standing actor in a female role, onnagata, reading a letter.
Komachi Invoking Rain, Amagoi, from the series A Parody on the Seven Komachi, Mitate nana Komachi.
The association with the Amagoi subject is obscure. It concerns a poem written by Komachi during a severe drought. On completion, she threw the sheet of paper into a pond, inducing a three-day downpour.
One anonymous poem.
Issued by the Katsushika Mimasuren
Unsigned
Literature
M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 208
Citation
M. Forrer, 2013, 'attributed to Utagawa (I) Kunisada, Woman Reading a Letter, Japan, c. 1825 - c. 1830', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.318678
(accessed 21 September 2024 21:36:54).