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Actor Iwai Kumesaburô III as Shirai Gonpachi, with Lavender (Komurasaki), from the series Pictorial Mirror Stands Matched with Thirty Selected Flowers (E kyôdai mitate sanjû bokkasen)


「絵鏡台見立三十木花撰」「白井権八」「小むらさき」 三代目岩井粂三郎の白井権八
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797–1861)
Publisher: Jôshûya Kinzô (Japanese)
Blockcutter: Matsushima Fusajirô (Horikô Fusajirô, Hori Fusa) (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
1845 (Kôka 2)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban; 35.8 x 25.1 cm (14 1/8 x 9 7/8 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.36635
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Waseda db 401-0017; the series: Iwakiri, "Tenpô kaikaku," in Ukiyo-e geijutsu 143 (2002), pp. 17-18
DescriptionMFA impressions: 11.28653, 11.36635

From a series of 16 known designs, of which the MFA has 4: 11.28653/11.36635, 11.36636, 11.36637, 11.36638
Iwakiri dates the series to 1845, just before the ban on actor prints was relaxed, and identifies Ishikawa Goemon (11.36636) as a portrait of ichikawa Danjûrô VIII. The Waseda db identifies Shirai Gonpachi (11.28653/11.36635) as Iwai Kumesaburô III; but neither source suggests actor identifications for the other prints in the series.
Signed Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Marks Censor's seal: Watari
Blockcutter's mark: Horikô Fusajirô
改印:渡
彫師:彫工房次郎
Inscriptions「隠れるも目にたつ水や杜若 六九□双峰」
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850–d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 19, 2005)

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.