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a.imagelink {color:#0000FF;} a:hover.imagelink {color:#0000FF;} a:visited.imagelink {color:#800080;} a.imagelink img.saleimage { border: 2px solid #0000FF; } a:visited.imagelink img.saleimage { border: 2px solid #800080; } Antique Japanese Original Woodblock Print Triptych by Kunisada -Kabuki Actors Enjoying Ume Blossoming- c.1857
Presented is a beautiful Japanese full oban-size triptych woodblock print by the renowned late Edo-period artist Utagawa Kunisada (1786 - 1864), also known as Kunisada I and Toyokuni III. He was one of the most prominent artists and printmakers during the late Edo era (1600-1864) and the most productive of all ukiyo-e artists - he had created about 20,000 images, each of them printed in several hundred prints.
This print is a triptych - a three-sheet print called "Kabuki Actors Enjoying Ume Blossoming". It portrays a group of actors gathering under a blossoming Japanese plum tree - ume. Watching ume blossoming was one of the favorite entertainments in the Edo period, along with the later sakura viewing. Ume is flowering first, early in the spring, when sometimes there is still snow. It is considered, therefore a symbol of resilience and vitality. The flowers of ume and saukura are very similar, and they both can be white or pink. However, the sakura petal is split at the end and creating a heart-like shape. The ume petal is simply round.
Please note - the actors are tying some paper notes to the branches of the tree. The tradition of tying notes to plum blossom (ume) trees traces back to the Nara and Heian periods, when nobles and literati would compose tanka and haiku poetry in honor of the blossoms and tie them to the flowering branches. Today, visitors still tie notes containing poems, prayers, and wishes to designated trees at Tenmangu shrines, which are dedicated to the scholar and poet Sugawara no Michizane. A terrific triptych full of activity and interesting detail - we can see their tobaccko pipes kiseru, some food caontainers, and their beautiful kimonos. A actor in the left sheet is onnagata, an actor who p-lays women's roles. Women were banned from stage in early Edo period so th male actors were playing female characters.
The print was made in around 1857 using the Japanese woodblock technique, during Kunisada's lifetime. All three sheets of the triptych are signed with Kunisada's signature (Kunisada ga and Kunisada hitsu) and stamped with the publisher's seal of Yamaguchiya Tobei.
AUTHOR: Utagawa Kunisada I (Toyokuni III)
PUBLISHER: Yamaguchiya Tobei
TITLE: "Actors Enjoying Ume Blossoms" (descriptive)
PAPER: washi paper
METHOD OF PRINTING: Woodblock printing
PRINTED: Lifetime printing circa 1840s-1850s
PRINT SIZE: Three sheets 14" X 9.3" (28" X 14" altogether)
The condition is good—great detail and colors, some toning and soiling of the paper. Margins are trimmed. Pinholes from binding.. Please see the photos for details.
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