Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) / Toyokuni III (三代豊国) (artist 1786 – 01/12/1865)
Yamatoya Baiga (大和屋梅我) at Chidori no Tamagawa (千鳥の玉川) in Mutsu Province from the series 'Actors with Six Jewel Faces' (Haiyū mutama-gao - 俳優六玉顔)
ca 1832
10.25 in x 15 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga
香蝶楼国貞画
Publisher: Yamaguchiya Tōbei
(Marks 591 - seal 15-005)
Censor's seal: kiwame
Library of Congress
Waseda University
Lyon Collection - Bandō Hikosaburō IV from this series
Victoria and Albert Museum
Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde, Leiden) via Ritsumeikan University
Lyon Collection - Nakamura Shikan II from this series
Lyon Collection - Bandō Mitsugorō IV from this series The Six Jewel Rivers were noted beauty spots of antiquity. The title of this series is a pun on the words kawa (river) and kao (face). In this magnificent set, for the landscape background Kunisada took advantage of the fashionable vogue for prints in the new imported Prussian blue pigment.
Illustrated:
1) in black and white in Kunisada's World by Sebastian Izzard, p. 142, cat. #66/1. Izzard wrote: 'Yamamoto Baiga (1799-1836)... was the eldest son of Iwai Hanshirō V... and took the name Hanshirōshown wearing a long-sleeved summer robe decorated with a pattern composed of the characters of his name, Iwai. On his head he wears a purple silk-cloth (murasaki-bōshi) held in place by a pin decorated with his crest. He carries a fan with a flowering plum design."
2) in color in Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collection 5: Victoria and Albert Museum II, Kodansha, 1989, #12.
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The aizuri-e background with a flock of plovers was inspired by a poem by the priest Nōin (能因: 988-ca. 1050-55).
Yamaguchiya Tōbei (山口屋藤兵衛) (publisher)
Iwai Hanshirō VI (六代目岩井半四郎) (actor)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
blue prints (aizuri-e - 藍摺絵) (genre)