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Courtesans under Cherry Trees in Front of the Daikokuya


大黒屋店先に桜と遊女
Kitagawa Utamaro I (Japanese, early 1750s–1806)
Publisher: Tsutaya Jûzaburô (Kôshodô) (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
about 1789–90 (Kansei 1–2)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban triptych; 38.6 x 77 cm (15 3/16 x 30 5/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.14548-50
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Ukiyo-e shûka 3 (1978), list #12.1-3, pls. 96-8
DescriptionTriptych: 11.14548 (left), 11.14549 (center), 11.14550 (right)

MFA impressions: 11.14408 (left sheet only), 11.14548-50, 21.7668-70

The courtesans and their attendants, from the right:
Nabiki of the Wakamatsuya, kamuro Takeji and Kikuji, with Naniwae, Hanasumi, Nanasato, and Nanahime
Yoshino of the Wakamatsuya, kamuro Momiji and Shigeno, with Makishino, Yoshitaka, Yoshisato, and Yoshitomi
Kasugano of the Ôgiya, kamuro Wakana and Kochô, with Harusono, Harukinu, Harukaze, and Harukusa
右から
「若松屋内 名曳 竹治 菊治 名にわゑ 花すみ なな里 名名姫」
「若松屋内 吉野 もみぢ しけの 巻しの よし高 よし里 よし富」
「扇屋内 春日野 わかな こてう はるその はるきぬ はるかせ はるくさ」
Signed Utamaro ga (on each sheet)
歌麿画
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.