Description:
Okubi-e; yakusha-e; vertical ōban format; nishiki-e
Label Text:
This print belongs to a series of untitled prints of kabuki actors backstage. Here, Bandō Hikosaburō V of the Otawaya guild, is seen applying makeup in preparation for an "onnagata" (literally 'female shape') role, indicated by the presence of the wig in the background and the bell-sleeves of the kimono. The actor's name is printed in the yellow cartouche at top-left, beneath which is the combined date-aratame seal of the censors, indicating this impression was approved in the twelfth month of 1861 (Bunkyū 1). This print is signed in the red toshidama cartouce "kiō Toyokuni ga" ('drawn by the elderly Toyokuni'), a signature employed by Kunisada during the final years of his life. In the light-blue cartouche at middle-left of the print is the seal of the as-yet-unidentified carver, which reads "Yokogawa hori Iwa" ('carved by Yokogawa Iwa'). Based on other similar examples, this is likely a blockcutter from from Yokogawa line whose given name begins with "Iwa." Beneath the artist's signature is the mark of publisher Tsujiya Yasubei, which reads "Kinkaidō han," or 'published by Kinkaidō,' the name of Tsujiya's frim, located in the Kyōbashi district of Edo.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2005.227 |
