Description:
Very good Japanese woodblock print by Utagawa Kunisada IIDepicting a rather unusual scene from a Kabuki play with two actors holding up another actor as though he were a puppet in a Bunraku play.
Nakamura Fukusuke I is paraded like a Puppet of Yaoya Hanbei by two supporting actors Arashi Kangoro I as Yoshida Kango (right), and Nakamura Kangoro I as Yoshida Kanta (left).
The play is Na Nomi Yaoya Ryori no Futsutsuka, from Wakaki no Ume Satomi no Yatsufusa.
Published by Hayashiya Shogoro in Tokyo in Ansei 4 of the Edo Era (1857).
Utagawa Kunisada II (1823-1880) was a Japanese ukiyo-e print maker and head of the Utagawa school. He worked in many genres including theatre actors (yakusha-e), beauty pictures (bijinga), erotica (shunga), literary scenes. He never achieved the level of success of his master.
Good impression with deep colour and rich black, slight age toning to the paper.
On verso, four adhesive stains to the bottom and top edges from a previous mount easily covered if matted. Small mark in… Read More