A young woman reading a book in the light of a lamp. Series: Arigataki miyo no kage-e (Shadow Pictures of an Auspicious Age). There are five known prints, half-length portraits of beauties, in this series, designed by Kunisada in ca. 1844. Another print from the series in this collection: SVJP-0306.2020: A young woman adjusting her hairpins in the light of a paper lantern.
Signed: Kōchōrō Toyokuni ga (香蝶楼豊国画).
Publisher: Maruya Kiyojiro.
Size: Vertical Ōban (37.5 x 25.4 cm).
Etching on laid paper, depicting a kneeling groom with his head between the spread legs of a bare-breasted woman in a veiled hat. Inscribed on plate: Un groom a tout faire. Owner's stamp LVM on verso.
Dimensions: Paper: 24.4 x 15.8 cm; Image: 12 x 7.5 cm
Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 662.
Image from Asian Art Museum in San Francisco:
Masanobu’s mitate wittily evokes an episode known as “Bodhidharma crossing the Yangzi River on a reed” (Royō Daruma). According to legend, the river crossing occurred en route to the Shaolin monastery, where Bodhidharma sat facing a wall for nine years without speaking. While serious interpretations abound in Chinese and Japanese paintings, popular prints of the Edo period often playfully substituted a beautiful woman for the monk. This parodic version was reportedly invented in response to a courtesan’s comment that she was more enlightened than Bodhidharma because she had spent ten years sitting, on display in a brothel.An interesting article about this particular design is published at UKIYO-E.ORG BLOG. Though, the design is erroneously attributed to Harunobu. We see that Bunchō was quite fascinated by the idea of crossing a water obstacle with the help of an unsuitable means of transportation:
Female Daruma Riding a Mushroom. MFA # 21.4758.
Signed: Katsukawa Shunshô ga (勝川春章画).
The size is somewhat larger than the standard pillar print (hashira-e): 16.3 x 67.7 cm.
No references found so far.
 SVJP-0342.2021 |
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Kabuki actors Onoe Kikugorō III and Iwai Kumesaburo II. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project. |
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Kabuki actors Bandō Minosuke II and Iwai Shijaku I. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project. |
Etching on laid paper, backed. Massar (1971): 59-61. View of the Pont Neuf in Paris, with the statue of Henry IV at centre in front of the Seine, the church of St.-Germaine l'Auxerrois and the Louvre to the right, and the Hôtel de Nevers and Tour de Nesle to the left (MET). in the banner below: LUDOVICO XIIII GALLIARUM ET NAV REGI; below image: PONS LVTETIÆ STRVCTVS, DICTVS NOVVS, ET QVÆ EX EO PROSPICI POSSVNT.; bellow: En pulcherrimus toto ... caufatus, vifere; along the bottom: Ste. Della Bella Florentinus In. e Fecit DD. 1646. Cum Privilegio Regis; additional lettering a lower left and right identifying places depicted.
State: 2nd, with the weathercock on the belltower of Église Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois (under 8). Size: 35.5 x 67.6 cm. Condition: Three vertical folds, these partly cracked and backed at the bottom, dusty or slightly stained, partly slightly rubbed, a small diagonal crease on the upper left, tiny marginal blemishes.Quotation from Phyllis D. Massar. Presenting Stefano della Bella. — NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, [1971]: "For size and complexity, one of Della Bella's most impressive achievements is his view of Paris across the Pont Neuf from a point between the buildings bounding the Place Dauphine. Besides the well-known landmarks-the Hộtel de Nevers, the Tour de Nesle, the church of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, and, at the centre, the bronze equestrian statue of Henri IV by the Florentines Giovanni Bologna and Pietro Tacca – the print provides a microcosm of Paris in transit across the Seine. With a glass, one can compile a census of 451 people, thirty-eight horses, nineteen dogs, three donkeys, and one lamb. All but lost in the vast scene, nevertheless, all contributing to it, are duelists, men fighting with staffs, brawlers routing passers-by, a tooth-puller making an extraction, sellers of sweetmeats and fruits, falconers, hunters with a pack of dogs, a legless cripple, many begging gypsies (one of them telling a fortune), and a hurdy-gurdy player with an audience. Moving among the splendid carriages is a humble water cart, and back among the market stands at the right is an early Seine-side bookstall."
Catalogue raisonné: Massar (1971): pp. 58-61; De Vesme p. 132, № 850ii/ii. Contributor: Stefano della Bella (Italian, 1610 – 1664) – artist and engraver.
