Japanese Art Online
Japanese Art Online
KITAGAWA UTAMARO I, (1750S–1806), EDO PERIOD, 18TH CENTURY | O-KITA OF THE NANIWA-YA TEAHOUSE (NANIWA-YA O-KITA)
Lot Closed
November 7, 02:15 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
FROM A FRENCH COLLECTION FORMED IN THE 19TH CENTURY
KITAGAWA UTAMARO I (1750S–1806), EDO PERIOD, 18TH CENTURY
O-KITA OF THE NANIWA-YA TEAHOUSE (NANIWA-YA O-KITA)
woodblock print: ink and colour on paper, signed Utamaro hitsu, published by Tsutaya Jûzaburô (Kôshodô), censor's seal kiwame, circa 1793
vertical ôban:
36.5 x 23.7 cm., 14⅜ x 9⅛ in.
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O-kita, one of the three famed Edo "Beauties" of the late eighteenth century, was a waitress in the Naniwa-ya teahouse near Asakusa Temple in the city of Edo (present Tokyo).
Utamaro also included a cartouche in the shape of a poem card in the upper left portion of the print with a poem by Katsura-no-Mayuzumi that further confirms the allure of O-kita: Naniwaya no naniou yado wa yukikai ni ashi no ukaranu hito mo arajina.
[There is no passerby who does not feel his feet light, passing in front of the famous house called Naniwaya.]
The same print is in numerous museum collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 11.14243, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no. JP1668 & JP2734, and the British Museum, accession no. 1926,0410,0.41.