Utagawa Kunisada
1786 - 1865
1854
Triptych of vertical ôban, each sheet c. 373 x 258 mm
Signatures: on the lateral sheets Toyokuni ga in the Toshidama cartouche, in the central sheet signature Yuki no kei oju Hiroshige hitsu (landscape with snow painted, upon request, by Hiroshige)
Publisher: Moriya Jihei (Kinshindo)
Censor seal: Aratame
Date seal: 12th month of the Year of the Tiger (1854)
Superb and even impressions with karazuri on the women’s robes and the snow rabbit’s mantle. Pristine colour, fine condition.
In the 1850s Kunisada and Hiroshige frequently collaborated in designing single as well as several series of wooblock prints.
The snow rabbit depicted on the right sheet is evidently a witty allusion to the forthcoming New Year of the Rabbit, 1855.
There are further impressions of the triptych in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (accession numbers 11.21540-2, 11.45113a-c).
Another impression is reproduced in the book by Andreas Marks, Genji’s World in Japanese Woodblock Prints, Leiden 2012; p. 229. pl. 236-
Price on application
