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Courtesans of the Matsuba-rô (from right): Utagawa, Matsukaze, Wakamurasaki


「松葉楼 歌川 松風 若紫」
Kitagawa Utamaro I (Japanese, early 1750s–1806)
Publisher: Isechô (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
about 1797 (Kansei 9)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban triptych; 36.6 x 75.5 cm (14 7/16 x 29 3/4 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.14542-4
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné MFA, Golden Age (2010), #75; Ukiyo-e shûka 3 (1978), list #397.1.1, 2.1, 3.1, pls. 154-6; Shibui, Ukiyo-e zuten Utamaro (1964), 35.3.1-3 (with different names); Sotheby's London sale cat. (Nov. 2006), #757 (1st ed., US 397.1.2, 2.2., 3.2)
DescriptionTriptych: 11.14542 (center), 11.14543 (right), 11.14544 (left)
Signed Utamaro hitsu (on each sheet)
歌麿筆
Marks Censor's seal: kiwame
改印:極
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.