Chōkōsai Eishō (鳥高斎栄昌) (artist )
Couple in front of a toothbrush shop - possibly the Shuchu-ka (酒中花)
1797 – 1798
4.75 in x 24.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Unsigned
Publisher: Surugaya Hanbei
Marks 499 - seal 22-081
Victoria and Albert Museum R. A. Crighton originally wrote in 1973 in The Floating World: Japanese Popular Prints 1700-1900 that "Although this print is not signed and was formerly attributed to Eisui, it is undoubtedly Eisho." Pins quoted this verbatim in 1982.
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According to the British Museum curatorial files, in reference to the Utamaro print we have added to the left: "A young samurai buying tooth-powder at the toothbrush shop in the precincts of the Asakusa Kannon Temple. On the bag the woman is holding can be made out "tooth-brush" and another word beginning "tooth...". The sign behind her refers to "flowers for putting in ‘sake’" (shuchu-ka). The pith from the stems of kerria (yamabuki) or fatsia (tara-no-ki) was formed into the shapes of birds, flowers and the like, which then shrank as they dried. When dropped into ‘sake’ or water they swelled up and opened out again."
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Illustrated:
1) in black and white in The Japanese Pillar Print by Jacob Pins, Robert G. Sawers Publishing, 1982, page 314, #888.
2) In black and white in Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collections: Victoria and Albert Museum, vol. 4, #78, p. 181.
Surugaya Hanbei (駿河屋半兵衛) (publisher)
beautiful women (bijin-ga - 美人画) (genre)
pillar prints (hashira-e - 柱絵) (genre)