Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1865)

Click here to view image full size. A bust portrait of the actor Bando Hikosaburo V as Samezaya Shiroza compared to Lin Chong (from the famed Chinese novel Shui Hu Zhuan, “Outlaws of the Marsh”) retold by Takizawa Bakin (1767-1848) in his novel “The Water Margin: New Illustrated Edition” published in 1805. There are three groups of three prints with background motifs of Pine, Bamboo (as here) and Plum, being the symbols of longevity. He is shown with a heavily tattooed arm of plum blossom and his coat is decorated with a design of a large eagle enveloping his shoulders. Published by Hayashiya Shogoro, 1859.   Very fine impression. Fine colour and condition. Signed Ni Konomi Toyokuni ga.   Status: Sold  

Toyohara KUNICHIKA (1835-1900)

Click here to view image full size. A diptych showing the actor Otani Tomoemon V as the firefighter Kurikara Denji in the play Fuji to mimasu suehiro soga performed at the Morita-za Theatre, 2 Interestingly, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has the original playbill, acc. no. 11.28195. Firemen were usually heavily tattooed demonstrating their masculinity. Published by Otaya Takichi, 3   Very good impression and colour. The pigments have oxidised somewhat giving a nice patina. Very good condition. Signed Kunichika fude.   Status: Sold  

Toyohara KUNICHIKA (1835-1900)

Click here to view image full size. The actor Sawamura Tossho II in the Okazaki no ba, “Okazaki Scene” from Okazaki no neko, “The Cat of Okazaki.” This episode from the famous play takes place in an old temple at Okazaki on the Tokaido. An old cat witch haunts the temple attacking young women. Published by Daikokuya Kinzaburo, c. mid 1860s. Rare.     Very good impression, colour and condition. Signed Kunichika hitsu.     Status: Sold

Katsukawa SHUNSHO (1726-1792)

Click here to view image full size. An hosoban showing the actor Iwai Hanshiro IV in an unidentified female role holding a letter beside a palanquin. What appears to be another version by Shunsho is in the Met, acc. number JP2783. Published c 1773.   Fine impression. Extremely good colour. Very good condition. Signed Shunsho ga.   Status: Sold  

Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1865)

Click here to view image full size. The actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII as the half-Chinese, half-Japanese hero Watonai in a production of the play Kokusen’ya kassen staged at the Nakamura-za Theatre, 8 Shows a popular scene from the play where Watonai overcomes a man-eating tiger in China by using a charm from the Ise Shrine. He holds a post with the characters reading Daijinga, “Grand Shrine” used in the inner and outer shrines at Ise. Published by Nishimuraya Yohachi 1816. Extremely early and rare.   Fine impression and colour. Trimmed at left, otherwise very good condition. Signed Gototei Kunisada ga.   Status: Sold  

Shunkosai HOKUSHU (Fl. c 1808-1832)

Click here to view image full size. The actor Nakamura Utaemon III as Kan Shojo in the play Sugawara denju tenarai kagami, “Mirror of Learning and Transmitting Sugawara’s Secrets of Calligraphy.” In fact based on stories relating to Sugawara Michizane (845 – 903, scholar, poet and politician). Government regulations prohibited the use of the names of real people in Kabuki. He is shown on a wood votive tablet. The play was performed at the Kado no Shibai Theatre, Osaka, 3 In fact, Utaemon is supposed to have sensationally played 7 roles in this play. Poem above by Shikan (Utaemon’s poetry name). Published by Toshikuraya Shinbei (inscribed bottom left).   Fine impression. This is a wonderful example of kimetsubushi printing whereby the grain of the wood is exposed with stiff brushes or pads to enable the grain to be printed. Very good colour and condition. Signed Shunkosai Hokushu ga.   Status: Sold  

Tsukioka YOSHITOSHI (1839-1892)

 Click here to view image full size. Snow from the set Setsugekka no uchi, “Snow, Moon and Flowers” published by Akiyama Buemon, 1890. Shows half-length portraits of famous actors, in this case Onoe Baiko V ( Onoe Kikugoro V, 1844-1903 ) as the priest Iwakura Sogen. Various versions of the story and play exist concerning Sogen’s infatuation with Irokotohime. First edition ( the second state titled “Iwakura Sogen in the Hermitage Scene from Hanafubuki” ). And with variegated cartouche. Fine impression and colour. Very small corner repair, otherwise very good condition. Ample room for joining of sheets. Signed Yoshitoshi. Status: Sold

Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1865)

 Click here to view image full size. A preparatory drawing sold together with the published print showing the actor Sawamura Sojuro III as Oboshi Yuranosuke from the play Kanadehon Chushingura. [Yakusha mitate] Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi: Nihonbashi Shinagawa no aide, Takanawa, Yuranosuke, “Actors at the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido: Takanawa between Nihonbashi and Shinagawa, Yuranosuke.” The drawing is from a group of 43 that were sold by a Milanese gallery in 1981. The set was published by Takadaya Takezo in 1852. Seal bottom right of the collector Kaoen. Three other drawings from this group are illustrated in Kunisada, Robert Schaap, Hotei Publishing, 2016, nos 103-105.   The drawing is laid down (as all were), sumi with light red and blue to the face. There are numerous annotations indicating the colours to be used. There are some differences between the drawing and the published print, mainly in the background landscape. The print is in good condition. The drawing is signed Toyokuni ga.   Status: Sold    Click here to view image full size.

Katsushika HOKUGA (Fl. c 1820s to 1830)

 Click here to view image full size. A fine original painting showing a beauty on the snow-covered dock used by boats to the Yoshiwara. Hokuga was a pupil of Hokusai and produced paintings and surimono. Full colour on silk, 37.5 x 11.25 in; 92.75 x 28.5 cms. Two repaired wormholes, otherwise very good condition. Box with title “Beauty Standing on Dock” with painting guaranteed on the underside of lid by Narasaki Muneshige. Illustrated in Ukiyo-e Paintings in Japanese Collections, vol. 7: the Manno Art Museum, edited by Kobayashi Tadashi. The inscription above is by Ota Nampo – Shokusanjin ( 1749-1823 ). Signed Karyosai Hokuga fude. Status: Sold  Click here to view image full size.  Click here to view image full size.  Click here to view image full size. here.. here..

Gessai GABIMARU (Fl. c 1810)

 Click here to view image full size. A beautiful painting of a parading courtesan. A follower of Chobunsai Eishi in the Bunka period. There are works by him signed Chobunsai, so he may have been related to Eishi. Full colour on silk, 29.5 x 5.75 in; 75 x 14.5 cms. Painting in good condition. Mount is old and the painting should either be framed or remounted. Signed Gessai Gabimaru ga. Status: Sold  Click here to view image full size.  Click here to view image full size.  Click here to view image full size.

Shiokawa BUNRIN et al

 Click here to view image full size. A fine Kyoto gassaku painting. ( A collaborative work by a group of friends. ) Shows a lobster by Shiokawa Bunrin ( 1808-1877 ), a pupil of Toyohiko; clams by Hasegawa Gyokuho ( 1822-1879 ) a pupil of Keibun; a sea bream by Yokoyama Seiki ( 1792-1864 ) a pupil of Keibun; and a stingray by Murase Soseki ( 1822-1877 ), a pupil of Keibun and Seiki. Four masters of the Shijo school. A large painting in full colour on silk in very good condition, 52.5 x 27.5 in; 133.5 x 70 cms. Mount in very good condition. Status: Sold  Click here to view image full size.  Click here to view image full size.  Click here to view image full size.  Click here to view image full size.  Click here to view image full size.

Utagawa KUNIYOSHI (1798-1861)

 Click here to view image full size. Ogata Shuma Hiroyuki ( later Jiraiya ) from Honcho Suikoden goyu happyaku-nin no hitori, “Eight Hundred Heroes of our Country’s Suikoden, One by One.” Shows the brigand with a heavy o-zutsu, hand cannon, bearing down on an enormous snake which had been preying on his friends the toads. Published c 1830 by Kaga-ya Kichiyemon. Robinson S4.12. Fine design. Very good impression and colour. Slightly trimmed right and bottom, otherwise very good condition. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga. Status: Sold

Utagawa TOYOKUNI I (1769-1825)

Click here to view image full size. The actor Segawa Roko III as the Lady Onoe in the play Yanoji Musubi hana no gyoretsu, performed at the Nakamura-za Theatre, 4     Very good impression and colour. Minor creasing, otherwise very good condition. Signed Toyokuni ga.     Status: Sold

Kobayashi KIYOCHIKA (1847-1915)

 Click here to view image full size. An original giga hand-scroll by Kiyochika, sumi and colour on paper, 504 inches x 10.5 inches. Shows the progress of a horseman on observing a beauty and attendant. Kiyochika, one of the last great ukiyoe artists, studied oil painting under Charles Wirgman, and ukiyoe painting with Kyosai and Zeshin. This was probably an orihon ( folding album ) which has been remounted as a hand- scroll. Dated at end: Meiji tsuchino-e inu, March 1898 and sealed Kiyochika no in. Status: Sold  Click here to view image full size.  Click here to view image full size.  Click here to view image full size.  Click here to view image full size.  Click here to view image full size.  Click here to view image full size.

Hashiguchi GOYO (1880-1921)

 Click here to view image full size. An original drawing of a sleeping cat. The original hanshita-e for a published print from Ten Sketches, volume two, published 1918-20. Illustrated in Hashiguchi Goyo, 130 Years Birth. Memorial Exhibition catalogue, Chiba City Museum, Iwakiri Shinichiro, Tokyo Shinibun, 2011. On thin Japanese paper, 11 x 15.5 in; 28 x 39.4 cms. Several expertly repaired tears, otherwise very good condition.   Status: Sold  

Katsushika HOKUSAI (1760-1849)

 Click here to view image full size. An original sumi drawing of a seated bijin writing on a handscroll. From a series of such studies showing women in various attitudes, smoking; playing musical instruments; adjusting hair, etc. The design cut out and mounted onto a larger sheet of Japanese paper, 10.5 x 8 inches. Status: Sold

Utagawa HIROSHIGE (1797-1858)

 Click here to view image full size. An important original drawing by Hiroshige being an hanshita-e (preparatory sketch) for an unpublished series Toto meisho gojusan tsugi, “Fifty-Three Views of Edo.” Shows Nihonbashi with a daimyo’s cortege crossing. Warehouses in the background and a distant Fuji.   Probably executed c. early 1850s. Sumi on thin paper, 9.5 x 13.5 in; 24 x 34 cms. Extensive pentimenti. Sold “as is” with imperfections but in good condition. Provenance: Ex Huguette Beres collection, sold Sothebys, Paris, 27/11/2002, lot 177.   Status: Sold  

Utagawa HIROSHIGE (1797-1858)

 Click here to view image full size. An important original drawing by Hiroshige being an hanshita-e (preparatory sketch) for an unpublished series Toto Fujimi junigatsu, “Mount Fuji Viewed from Edo in the Twelve Months.” This is February showing the Inari Bridge and the Minato Temple; boats in the foreground and Fuji in the distance.   Probably drawn c. early 1850s. Sumi on thin paper. Sold “as is” with imperfections but in good condition. Provenance: Ex Huguette Beres collection, sold Sothebys, Paris, 27/11/2002, lot 179.   Status: Sold  

Torii KIYOMASU (FL. c. 1696-1720)

Click here to view image full size. An overlarge oban, 19.5 x 12.25 in; 49.5 x 31 cms. Coloured by hand with tan and mustard yellow. Shows the emporium of Daikokuten, the God of wealth and one of the Seven Lucky Gods (Shichifukujin). He is shown at the top seated in front of a pair of scales. Seated before him, to the left, is Benzaiten, the Goddess of love and music. On the right is Ebisu, God of fishermen and good luck. Behind him is Fukurokuju, the God of happiness and wealth, using an abacus. On the far right is Jurojin, the God of longevity. Below him, next to the cart, is Bishamonten, the God of war and warriors. At the bottom, stepping from the boat, is Hotei, the God of happiness. All the Gods are helping, together with rats, to unload bales of rice. The earliest depictions of the Seven Gods are in the second half of the 17th century and are amalgams of Indian and Chinese lore. This early rendition still hasn’t the fully developed characteristics of the Gods – especially Hotei – which we see in the 19th century. Published by Komatsuya (who published c. 1707-1734) c. 1710-1715. Little is known of Kiyomasu’s early career. He may have been the brother of Kiyonobu. An important painter and print artist. Of the utmost rarity: probably the only impression extant.     Very good impression. Some expert edge restoration, otherwise very good colour and condition. Signed Torii shi with Kiyomasu seal.     Status: Sold