Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III). Behold the Half-Opened Flower / Fan print, c. 1840

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞], a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代 歌川 豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865)

Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga (香蝶樓國貞画)

Media: Aiban yoko-e uchiwa-e (団扇絵), color woodblock print, 225 x 283 mm

No censor seal, no date seal, no publisher seal

Provenance: René Scholten (Dutch, 1943 – 2001)

Title: Behold the Half-Opened Flower (花お半開見る, Hana o hankai miru)

Half-length, three-quarters view of a woman seated indoors, turning her head to the left while holding up a folded textile — likely the doll’s kimono or a futon set. She wears a blue outer robe with a swallow pattern over a red undergarment with cherry blossoms. Her coiffure is adorned with red and blue ribbons and ornamental hairpins.

To the left, a young boy, identified by his shaved crown, is seated beside a bamboo cabinet, holding a richly dressed cloth doll with hairpins and a tied fabric head. The doll likely represents the famous courtesan Hina-dzuru of the Choji-ya, suggested by the poetic title in the cartouche at upper right: 花おはれみる (Behold the well-dressed flower). His mother prepares either a change of clothes—or perhaps the five futons—for her son’s elaborately dressed doll companion.

The background is patterned with red asanoha tie-dye, enhancing the theatrical and symbolic tone of the composition.

[Thanks to Horst Graebner]

Ref.: Lea Baten. Playthings and Pastimes in Japanese Prints. — NY: Weatherhill, 1995