Richard Kruml

Richard Kruml

Ichiyusai KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)

 Click here to view image full size. Three bijin under Ryogoku Bridge on the Sumida River from a set of “The Four Seasons”, this being summer. Published by Iba-ya Sensaburo. Very good impression, colour and condition. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga.…

Ichiyusai KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)

 Click here to view image full size. Cooling off on the Sumida River. Published by Ebi-ya Rinnosuke c.1843-46. Very good impression and colour. Slight folds, otherwise very good. Signed Cho-o-ro Kuniyoshi ga. Status: Sold

Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1865)

 Click here to view image full size. A rare nagaban series of full length bijin published by Kinrindo (Moriya Jihei) c.1835-37. Very good impression and colour; slight soil, otherwise good condition. Signed Kochoro Kunisada ga. Status: Sold

Suzuki HARUNOBU (1724-1778)

 Click here to view image full size. A chuban print of a young girl beside a stream. A poem above, by Ono no Komachi, compares her thoughts to a floating reed. One of a series based on “The Thirty-six Poets”.…

Suzuki HARUNOBU (1724-1770)

Click here to view image full size. An unsigned chuban showing a seated courtesan with her two kamuro. One brings a letter while the other cleans her mistress’s tobacco pipe. Behind is a large kiri-mon on a noren. Published c.…

Utagawa SADAKAGE (Fl. c. 1818-1844)

Click here to view image full size. An aizuri-e (blue print) showing a beauty bowing obsequiously with a cup of tea. Shi, “Samurai” from a set of the Four Estates: Shi, Samurai; No, Peasant; Ko, Artisan; Sho, Merchant. Published by…

Torii KIYONAGA (1752-1815)

Click here to view image full size. One of the great Ukiyo-e artists exemplifying what is called the classical school. He was a pupil of Kiyomitsu and was adopted by the Torii family, inheritating the estate, and was the last…

Kitagawa UTAMARO (1753-1806)

Click here to view image full size. An aiban showing a mother and daughter from a set Tosei fuzoku hakkei, “Eight Views of Manners of Today.” This design probably referring to Mother’s Day. Another from the set is illustrated in…

Kitagawa UTAMARO (1753-1806)

Click here to view image full size. An aiban showing an elegant couple holding falcons. Takagari, Japanese falconry, is said – as so much else in Japan – to have come from China around the 4th century. A symbol of…

Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864)

Click here to view image full size. A stone lantern strongly illuminating a beauty reading a missive from a set Tsuki no kage shinobiau yoru, “Secret Meetings by Moonlight.” Published by Yamamotoya Heikichi c. 1836-38 and is based on strong…

Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864)

Click here to view image full size. A woman putting out a floor lamp from a set Tsuki no kage shinobiau yoru, “Secret Meetings by Moonlight.” Published by Yamamotoya Heikichi c. 1836-38 and is based on strong light sources shining…

Kikugawa EIZAN (1787-1867)

Click here to view image full size. A triptych showing courtesans enjoying themselves on a balcony overlooking Tokyo bay. Furyu minami eki shiohi, “Fashionable South Station at Ebb Tide.” In fact, clam digging at low tide which can be seen…

Utagawa KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)

Click here to view image full size. A vertical oban diptych showing the poetess Kagano Chiyo (1703-1775). The story relates how Chiyo goes to her well to draw water only to find that a morning-glory vine has overgrown her bucket.…

Chobunsai EISHI (1756-1829)

Click here to view image full size. The parading courtesan Yosooi of Matsubaya with her kamuro Tomeki and Nioi. Published by Nishimuraya Yohachi c. 1800. She must have been a popular courtesan as she is depicted on many prints by…

Suzuki HARUNOBU (1724-1770)

Click here to view image full size. A pillar print showing a beauty after a bath walking past a pot of morning glory. Published c. 1768. The morning glory is a precursor of hot summer. Some 40 or 50 years…

Keisai EISEN (1790-1848)

 Click here to view image full size. A high-ranking courtesan ( oiran ) looking over her shoulder. From a set of six prints: Bijin kaichu kagami – Jisei rokkassen: Ariwara no Narihira, “ A Pocket Mirror of Beauties – Six…

Katsukawa SHUNSHO (1726-1792)

Click here to view image full size. A chuban print from a set of three: Sanseki waka, “Three Evening Poems.” In this case interpreting a poem by Jakuren hoshi (1139-1202). The poem reads: Sabishisa wa / sono iro to shimo…

Isoda KORYUSAI (1735-1790)

Click here to view image full size. A pillar print, hashira-e, of a beauty after a bath cooling herself with a fan. A cat looks up adoringly from below. Above her is a temple bell wind chime, often hung in…

Utagawa SADAHIDE (1807-1873)

Click here to view image full size. A triptych, Shin Yoshiwara karitaku no zu, “Temporary Lodgings of the New Yoshiwara.” Shows the courtesans Shiratama, Masanagi, and Tamakazura of the Tamaya House before a latticed window overlooking the Ryogoku River. The…

Kikugawa EIZAN (1787-1867)

 Click here to view image full size. The courtesan Biso of the Ogi House holding a brush up to a snow sculpture of Daruma. Snow from a Snow, Moon, Flowers set: Seiro bijin setsugekka. Published by Kawaguchiya Uhei, c late…

Kikugawa EIZAN (1787-1867)

 Click here to view image full size. Winter from a set Furyu bijin kodakara awase, “Elegant Beauties and Precious Children.” Shows a beauty carrying one child and looking down at another with a large snowball. Published by Matsumura Yahei, c…

Tsukioka YOSHITOSHI (1839-1892)

Click here to view image full size. Kemu-so: Kyowa nenkan naishitsu no fuzoku, “Looking Smoky:The Appearance of a Housewife of the Kyowa Era.” From the set: Thirty-Two Aspects of Women published by Tsunashima Kamekichi, 1888. Shows a housewife fanning a…

Kitao MASANOBU (Santo KYODEN) (1761-1816)

Click here to view image full size. One double-oban design from the most sumptuous album ever produced: Yoshiwara keisei: Shin bijin awase jihitsu kagami, “A Mirror of New Yoshiwara Courtesans with Samples of Their Calligraphy.” Published by Tsutaya Juzaburo, 1784.…

Choensai EISHIN (Fl. 1795-1817)

 Click here to view image full size. An original painting by a rare pupil of Hosoda Eishi. He designed some fine bijin prints, including rare okubi-e. Shows a beauty in heavy snow with billowing trousers, a heavy straw cape and…

Hosoda EISHI (1756-1829)

Click here to view image full size. The courtesan Shizuka of the Shizutama-ya from the set of six prints Seiro bijin rokkasen, “Six Poems on Yoshiwara Beauties as Flowers.” One of the most beautiful sets of this period. Published 1794…

Hosoda EISHI (1756-1829)

Click here to view image full size. The parading courtesan Yosooi of Matsubaya with her kamuro Tomeki and Nioi. Not listed in Brandt. Published by Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudo) c 1800. She must have been a popular courtesan as she is…