Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864) | Courtesan preparing for bed | Edo period, 19th century
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June 13, 12:53 PM GMT
Estimate
12,000 - 15,000 EUR
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Description
Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864)
Courtesan preparing for bed
Edo period, 19th century
woodblock print, surimono, signed Oju Kunisada ga (Pictured by Kunisada, by special request), privately issued, circa mid-1820s, poem by Shinrintei Komori; with collector's seal of Gerhard Pulverer to verso
Shikishiban surimono: 20.7 x 18.1 cm., 8⅛ x 7⅛ in.
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Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864), Courtisane se rendant au lit, époque Edo, XIXe siècle
Henri Vever (1854-1942)
Sotheby’s, London, Highly Important Japanese Prints, Illustrated Books, Drawings and Fan Paintings from the Henri Vever Collection: Part II, 26 March 1975, Lot 347 (part lot).
Gerhard Pulverer (b. 1930)
Doitsu Puruvera korekushon ukiyo-e hanga meihinten [Masterpieces of Ukiyo-e from the Pulverer Collection], exhibited at the following venues:
Matsuzakaya Department Store, Osaka, 27th December 1990 - 8th January 1991
Matsuzakaya Department Store, Ginza, 24th - 29th January 1991
Narazaki Muneshige, ed., Hizo ukiyo-e taikan, Puruvera korekushon [Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in Western Collections: The Pulverer Collection] (Tokyo, 1990), no. 80.
Doitsu Puruvera korekushon ukiyo-e hanga meihinten [Masterpieces of Ukiyo-e from the Pulverer Collection] (Tokyo, 1990), p. 59, no. 2-14.
The depiction of courtesans is quite rare in surimono. Here Kunisada portrays a courtesan preparing for bed – an experiment in rendering objects in darkness, though the source of light is not shown. She dries her hands; behind her a kimono embroidered with dragonflies, pine needles and pinecones is draped over a folding screen.
A similar impression of the same surimono is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, object number RP-P-1958-475.