Posts by Richard Kruml:
Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1865)
Click here to view image full size.
An untrimmed fan print Fuji Tsukuba aiaigasa, “Fuji and Tsukuba Sharing an Umbrella.” A play on images and words: Shows the actors Nakamura Shikan II and the onnagata actor Iwai Kumesaburo II sharing an umbrella against the snow. Tsukuba, about 50 kilometers from Edo, was an area where both Fuji and Mount Tsukuba could be viewed together. Mount Fuji being the female and Mount Tsukuba the male. An aizuri-e background (common to all the designs in this set). Published by Ibaya Senzaburo, c 1829. (The publisher’s seal is on the umbrella on the following design from this set. He published a number of Kunisada’s fan sets.) Rare.
Very fine impression with extensive burnishing. Fine colour. Several expertly repaired binding holes, otherwise fine condition. Signed Kochoro Kunisada ga.
Status: Sold
Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1865)
Click here to view image full size. An untrimmed fan print Fuji Tsukuba aiaigasa, “Fuji and Tsukuba Sharing an Umbrella.” A play on images and words: Shows the actors Ichikawa Ebizo V and the onnagata actor Iwai Shijaku I sharing an umbrella against the wind. Tsukuba, about 50 kilometers from Edo, was an area where […]
Gyokurantei SADAHIDE (1807-1873)
Click here to view image full size. An uncut aizuri-e fan showing Urashima Taro astride a large turtle approaching the Dragon King’s Palace. The story relates how the fisherman rescues the turtle from some miscreant children on a beach. A few days later, while fishing, the turtle appears and rewards him by taking him to […]
Hanabusa ITCHO ( 1670-1724 )
Click here to view image full size. An original painting showing a cat cleaning itself on a precarious tea-house roof. A charming study and typical of his work which often depicted the commonplace and comical sides to life. Itcho first studied the Kano tradition, perhaps under Kano Yasunobu ( 1618-1685 ). He was also known […]
Mori TETSUZAN (1775-1841)
Click here to view image full size. A seated cat with butterflies above. Tetsuzan, the adopted son of Mori Sosen, was known for his animal paintings and was one of the ten best pupils of Okyo. Good condition. Sumi and colour on beige silk. Image size 38.25 x 14.5 inches. Mounted on brown damask with […]
Utagawa HIROSHIGE (1797-1858)
Click here to view image full size. Kozuke, Harunasan setchu, “Kozuke [Province], Mount Haruna Under Snow.” From a set of 69 prints [Dai Nihon] Rokujuyoshi meisho zue, “Famous Places in the Sixty-odd Provinces [of Japan]” published by Koshihei between 1853 and 1856, this being 1853. A red bridge spans a gorge with precipitous cliffs and […]
Oku BUMMEI (?-1813)
Click here to view image full size. A Maruyama school artist and “One of the ten most notable pupils of Okyo.” A contributor to the anthology Keijo gaen of 1814. Shows a strolling courtesan composed of almost limpid brush strokes creating an ethereal image of the floating world. Sumi and light brown-red on paper, 41.25 […]
Ichiunsai KUNIHISA II (1832-1891)
Click here to view image full size. A fine work of the artist, c 1850s. The pupil and son-in-law of Kunisada. A beauty promenading. Sumi and full colour on silk. Image size 34 x 11.75 in; 86.5 x 29.5 cms. Fine condition. New mount and box. Signed Kunihisa ga. Seals unread. Status: Available Click here […]
Ichiryusai HIROSHIGE (1797-1858)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting, sumi and light colour on light green-coloured silk, 21.37 x 13.62 in; 51.8 x 34.7 cms. The location is unidentified but shows an inland sea with a promontory and shrine. A beautiful, lyrical landscape probably painted in Kaei era (1848-54). In good condition and has […]
Some ways to identify first and early impressions
First and early impressions best convey the intentions of the artist and publisher. High quality impressions can be identified by clear, unbroken key-block outlines, especially on any faces or title cartouches; visible wood-grain – the ‘finger print’ of every Japanese print and the depth of impression, which can often be sensed with the fingertip, especially […]
Watanabe SEITEI (1852-1918)
Click here to view image full size. A complete set of 12 paintings showing birds and plants representing the months of the year. Seitei ( Shotei ) specialised in kachoga; was famous in this area, and regarded as the leading exponent. Technically brilliant. January shows a dove on a pine tree with pine cones. February […]
Nishikawa SUKENOBU (1671-1750)
Click here to view image full size. The pre-eminent painter in the Kyoto area during the first half of the eighteenth century. He enjoyed a great reputation in his lifetime and his (over 100) illustrated books influenced many artists, not only in the Kyoto-Osaka area but also in Edo. Many of his books were published […]
Hasegawa SADANOBU II (active 1867-1880s)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting by Sadanobu II. A reclining beauty reading a book. There appears to be nothing else like this by Sadanobu, and indeed, there are very few bijin-ga prints by him. A beautiful painting. Sumi and colour on silk. Image size 13 x 9.25 inches; 33 x […]
Toensai KANSHI (Fl. mid-18th century)
Click here to view image full size. A rare, highly talented and enigmatic painter who produced only a few masterpieces. There is some confusion over his active working life with differing dates from 1748 to 1780, but he was certainly painting in the 1760s. This unusual composition shows a beauty adjusting her hair by obliquely […]
Kawamata TSUNEMASA (Fl. 1716-48)
Click here to view image full size. Shows a beautiful salt-water gatherer, her hut behind her on the seashore. A member of the Kawamata school, he probably worked in Kyoto and specialised in bijinga. Sumi and full colour on paper. Outlines picked out in gold. 32.5 x 10.5 in; 82.5 x 26.5 cms. Fine […]
Watanabe SEITEI (1851-1918)
Click here to view image full size. Two geese – possibly Greater White-fronted Geese ( although the legs should be a little more orange ) with tall reeds and a large misty moon. Sumi and light colour on silk, 43 x 16 in; 109 x 40.5 cms. Signed and sealed Seitei. In fine condition with […]
Tsukioka SETTEI (1710-1786)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting, sumi and light blue on silk. Image size 38.75 x 14.25 in; 98.4 x 36.2 cms. Shows a carp leaping a waterfall. This was a favourite subject for Japanese artists being a symbol of achievement against adversity. Carp were bred for their colour in Japan […]
Katsushika HOKUSAI (1760-1849); Kyokutei BAKIN (1767-1848); Jippensha IKKU (1765-1831)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting by Hokusai showing the back view of a courtesan. Above are inscriptions by Bakin and Ikku, the two leading writers of the day. ( Bakin is famous for writing Chronicles of the Eight Dog Heroes of the Satomi Clan of Nanso and Ikku for writing […]
Utagawa HARUSADA (1830-1887)
Click here to view image full size. An exceptionally beautiful painting of a standing beauty by this pupil of Kuniyoshi. An ukiyo-e artist who worked in Kyoto. Real name Okamoto Syotaro. Full colour with touches of gold on silk. Image size 40.5 x 13.5 in; 102.8 x 34.2 cms. Very minor brown area otherwise in […]
Kubo SHUMMAN (1757-1820) and Kameda BOSAI (1752-1826)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting showing a parading oiran on the first day of the eighth month, Hassaku (hachigatsu sakuhi). It was common on this day to wear a white kimono. This festival still takes place in the Gion quarters of Kyoto. The calligraphy, above, is by Bosai (Hosai), an […]
Takehara SHUNCHOSAI (Fl. c 1772-1818)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting showing beauties enjoying the cool of the evening on the riverbank and shallows of the Komo-gawa in Kyoto. An exceptional and rare painting by an artist best known for his guides to Osaka and Kyoto, Miyako meisho zue and Naniwa no kagami, published 1778 and […]
Utagawa TOYOKUNI II (TOYOSHIGE) (1777-1835)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting on paper, unmounted, showing Asahina Saburo (Wada no Saburo Yoshihide), a famous warrior of the early Kamakura period (1185-1333). Image size 11.5 x 15.5 in; 29.2 x 39.5 cms. Signed Toyokuni suichu hitsu, “Toyokuni painted while being drunk.” Status: Sold
Matsumura KEIBUN (1779-1843)
Click here to view image full size. A fine gajo, 10.75 x 6.75 in; 27 x 17 cms, folding out to 10.75 x 13.5 in; 27 x 34 cms. Consisting of 24 paintings in sumi and light colour of birds, animals and fish, starting with the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac: Rat; Ox; Tiger; Hare; […]
Tsukioka SETTEI (1710-1786)
Click here to view image full size. A very fine large painting showing a standing beauty holding a cloth. At her feet is a fulling-block (kinuta) and several mallets. She looks skyward at the geese flying across the moon. One of the traditional symbols of autumn in Japan. There seems to have been a frisson […]
Tsukioka SETTEI (1710-1786)
Click here to view image full size. An interesting large painting, full colour on paper mounted on a wooden frame, 25.5 in; 62cms in diameter showing a bust portrait of a beauty with elaborate coiffure holding a child and a rattle. Although not signed, the attribution is unquestionable, painted between 1767-1773 in Osaka. It appears […]
Tsukioka SETTEI (1710-1786)
Click here to view image full size. An interesting large painting, full colour on paper mounted on a wooden frame, 25.5 in; 62cms in diameter showing a bust portrait of a beauty with elaborate coiffure and holding a hat for a street festival. Although not signed, the attribution is unquestionable, painted between 1767-1773 in Osaka. […]
Teisai HOKUBA (1771-1844)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting on silk in full colour. Image size 36.5 x 13.5 in; 92.75 x 34.25 cms. A fine painting showing beauties from different social strata: A farmer’s wife; a courtesan; an elegant wife; and a Heian period court beauty. Hokuba was one of the earliest and […]
Utagawa KUNINAO (1793-1854)
Click here to view image full size. Click here to view image full size. A pair of original paintings: One showing a beauty being followed by her servant down a jetty into a waiting boat. He protects her with an umbrella in one hand and carries food on a tray with the other. The whole […]
Utagawa HIROSHIGE (1826-1869)
Click here to view image full size. Click here to view image full size. A pair of original kakejiku with two paintings on each. Possibly from the front and back cover pages of a first edition “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo” set. Sumi and colour, image size of each painting 13.5 x 8.75 in; […]
Katsushika HOKUSAI (1760-1849)
Click here to view image full size. A small original painting of an old sage (possibly the poet Saigyo Hoshi [1118-1190]) seated, holding a bamboo pole and with a large hat on his back. He looks up wistfully at a mountain range with what appears to be a hanging bridge over a gorge. Light colour […]
Tsukioka YOSHITOSHI (1839-1892)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting, sumi and touches of red on paper, 26 x 11.5 in; 66 x 29.2 cms. A spontaneous painting of a beauty raising the hem of her kimono as she rushes to an appointment. Several small restorations only viewable obliquely, otherwise good condition. Signed in cursive […]
Hishikawa MORONOBU (C. 1618-1694)
Click here to view image full size. An important figure and pioneer of the ukiyo-e school. He was born into a family of embroiderers and textile dyers at Hota in Awa Province, but departed for Edo, c. 1658, to study painting. A prolific artist, he illustrated a large number of books, as well as being […]
Matsumura KEIBUN (1779-1843)
Click here to view image full size. A handscroll comprising twelve mostly nature studies. ( Four shown. ): An isolated village; redstart and camellia; a rock; iris; rose; bamboo; lobster; sparrow and begonia; a village covered in snow; a scholar reading; white camellia; hibiscus. Sumi and light colour on paper, 14 x 441.2 in; 35.5 […]
Katsushika HOKUSAI (1760-1849)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting by Hokusai showing wild boars, a parent and baby. Another “Wild Boar in the Moonlight” painting is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, acc. No. 11.7430, ex William Sturgis Bigelow collection. The same broad background brushstroke shading is found on both paintings. Illustrated in […]
Kishi RENZAN (1805-1859)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting by Renzan, also known as Gantoku. He was adopted by the Kishi family and trained by his father-in-law, Kishi Ganku, who founded the Kishi school. His fellow pupils were Yokoyama Kazan and Minwa Bumpo. After Ganku’s death, he became the leader of the school together […]
Teisai HOKUBA (1771-1844)
Click here to view image full size. A large original painting, full colour on paper, 49 x 22.5 in; 124.5 x 57 cms. Shows a beauty caught in an autumnal breeze, the tree above shedding its leaves. One of Hokusai’s earliest and best pupils and, apart from painting , is also known for his surimono […]
Tsuji HOZAN (Fl. 1820-1840)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting, 31.5 x 12.5 in; 80 x 31.8 cms. Sumi and full colour on silk. The inscription on the inside of the box lid states that the painting is by Tsuji Hozan, a Shijo painter, and shows a “castle-toppling” courtesan under cherry blossom in the style […]
Kawamata TSUNEMASA (Fl. 1716-1751)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting, sumi and full colour on paper, 27 x 10.5 in; 68.5 x 26.75 cms. Shows a parading courtesan with her kamuro. Tsunemasa’s small corpus of work shows him primarily painting portraits of beauties as well as mitate works alluding to classical themes. His delicate figures […]
Kitagawa UTAMARO II (Fl. c 1807-1830s)
Click here to view image full size. An original painting, sumi and full colour on silk, 40.25 x 15.25 in; 102.25 x 38.75 cms. Shows a geisha reading a book and holding a shamisen likened to Manjusri (Japan: Monju), the bodhisattva of wisdom in Mahayana Buddhism. Often depicted riding or astride a lion representing the […]