Toshusai Sharaku (act. 1794-95)
Lot 5 THE PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN FAMILY

Toshusai Sharaku (act. 1794-95)

Closed11 May 2011

Price Realised

GBP 49,250

More Information

How to sell

Toshusai Sharaku (act. 1794-95)
Arashi Ryuzo as the money lender Ishibe Kinkichi
An okubi-e [large-head portrait] of the actor in the play Hana ayame bunroku Soga, performed at the Miyako theater in the fifth month of Kansei 6 (1794), signed Toshusai Sharaku ga, published by Tsutaya Juzaburo, good impression with good mica and good colour, very light staining lower edge, slightly trimmed
Oban tate-e (33.9 x 23.5cm.)

Specialist note

The actor Arashi Ryuzo was a top-ranked jitsuaku[(actor of villain roles] shown here as the hard-hearted money lender in "The iris 'Soga' in the Bunroku era," a parody of the Soga brothers revenge plays.

For other impressions see Yamaguchi Keizaburo, Sharaku, vol. 7 of Ukiyo-e taikei (Tokyo, 1973), pl. 6 (Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts); Narazaki Muneshige and Yamaguchi Keizaburo, Daiei hakubutsukan/The British Museum...., vol. 11 of Ukiyo-e shuka (Tokyo, 1979), pl. 3 (The British Museum, London); Narazaki Muneshige, ed., Gime bijutsukan I (Muse Guimet I), vol. 6 of Hizo ukiyo-e taikan/Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collections (Tokyo, 1990), pl. 177; Yamaguchi Keizaburo, Sharaku no zembo (Tokyo, 1994), pl. 8 (The Art Institute of Chicago).

Another impression was sold in Christie's New York, Japanese Prints, Paintings, Illustrated Books and Drawings from the Collection of the late Theodor Scheiwe, Part II, 16 October, 1989, lot 46.