Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) / Toyokuni III (三代豊国) (artist 1786 – 01/12/1865)
'Calligraphy' from Fashionable Amusements of Spring (Fūryū haru no kyō - 風流春の興)
ca 1847 – 1848
30 in x 14 in (Overall dimensions) color woodblock print; ōban triptych
Signed: Kōchōrō Toyokuni ga - left and right panels -
香蝶楼豊国画
Ichiyosai Toyokuni ga - center panel
一陽斎豊国画
Publisher: Izumiya Ichibei (Marks 180 - seal 21-235)
Censor: Fuku and Muramatsu
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Achenbach Foundation of Graphic Arts - center panel only
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna - center panel only
Tokyo Metropolitan Library The beauty on the right is wearing a robe decorated with dragons chasing flaming pearls. They are gamboling above a border of sacred mountains and waves. Behind her is a wrapped koto.
John Fiorillo and Peter Ujlaki noted in an article on Shigeharu in Andon that when courtesans wore clothing decorated with a dragon that it was an indication of their high rank.
In the middle panel the bijin is dressed in a robe decorated by open hibiscus flowers and buds with a couple of small white images of descending geese. She is about to either create some calligraphy or paint a picture in sumi. The figure on the left is wearing a kimono decorated with peonies.
The elegance of this scene is unmistakable.
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This triptych is also referred to as Genji-themed according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Library. If this is so, then it most probably Rustic Genji related, more likely.
Izumiya Ichibei (和泉屋市兵衛) (publisher)
beautiful woman picture (bijin-ga - 美人画) (genre)
Genji related prints (Genji-e - 源氏絵) (genre)