Kunichika: Portrait of Kunisada (Toyokuni III) at the Age of Seventy-Eight 豊国の揮毫に艶色を競ふ

Artist: Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900)
Title:  Portrait of Kunisada (Toyokuni III) at the Age of Seventy-Eight 豊国の揮毫に艶色を競ふ

Series: Tosei mitate sanju-rokkasen 當盛見立 三十六花撰 (Contemporary Kabuki Actors Likened to Thirty-Six Flowers (Immortals of Poetry)) Date: 1863, 4th month

Portrait of Kunisada, the artist who designed this series of prints in the final years of his illustrious career. It is also the frontispiece for the series, and we see the listing of the prints in the form of an opened book, above, surrounded by a variety of flower sprigs. Kunichika has drawn an excellent likeness of the venerable Kunisada at the age of seventy-eight– this portrait indicates how highly Kunichika was regarded by his teacher to have been given this honor. Kunisada  is finely attired, and he looks very alert and ready to paint, brush held conspicuously in his hand. His head is completely shaven, as was customary for men of a certain age in the Edo period. Kunisada’s outer robe is quite sumptuous; it includes a repeating pattern of the toshidama seal in reversing colors that can only be seen in person, when the print is held reflective to a light source. The pattern was achieved with an expensive burnishing technique known as shomenzuri.

It is nice to see a portrait of an artist that was done while the artist was alive, rather than a posthumously created one. Kunichika also was commissioned to design two memorial portraits, (shini-e), that are much more commonly seen. Kunisada seems to have been actively creating excellent designs up until his death at the very end of 1864 (in the Japanese calendar), a laudable accomplishment in itself.

In this series actors are compared both with 36 flowers as well as the 36 Immortal Poets.  

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. Very fresh and clean, and printed on heavy paper. Mica embellishments on the open "book". 

Dimensions: ôban (36.5 x 24.5 cm) Publisher:  Hiranoya Shinzo 

Reference: See MFA Boston, British Museum collections. Newland, Time Present and Time Past (1999), p. 13, fig. 3; Izzard, Kunisada's World (1993), #99

Signature: Shichiju-hachi ou, Ichiyosai Toyokuni shozo (Seventy-eight year-old Toyokuni, faithully drawn) and Ichiosai Kunichika shinso (true likeness by)

SKU: KCA132