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Manzai Dancers, in the Tomimoto Dance Play "Manners of Love in the First Month" (Mutsumashizuki koi no tedori)


「睦月恋の手取」(むつましずきこいのてどり) 「万ざい」
Torii Kiyomitsu II (Kiyomine) (Japanese, 1787–1868)
Publisher: Mikawa
Japanese
Edo period
about 1810 (Bunka 7)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical chûban; 23.4 x 17.7 cm (9 3/16 x 6 15/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.20136
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

DescriptionThe play Mutsumashizuki koi no tedori premiered in 1782.11 at the Nakamura Theater.
However, the figures playing the roles appear to be not kabuki actors but young women, possibly geisha performing a skit in the Niwaka festival, or performers in a private theatrical.
Probably from the same series: 11.20135, 11.20136; possibly from a related series: 11.17983.
Signed Kiyomine ga
清峰画
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 - d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.