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Utagawa KUNISADA (1786 - 1865)		A ghost scene (from a kabuki play)
		Preparatory brush drawing; sumi (black ink) on thin paper. Date:                   c. 1830s-40s Size of sheet:      c. 25 x 34 cms / c. 10" x 13 3/8" Condition: Fine, except for an artist's ink stain; - with pentimento (pls. read below). Provenance: Former T. Scheiwe collection - see: the red 'TSN' seal at bottom right of the drawing, and the 'Reference' literature section below. Ref. no.: # S-1240 Price:  € 3,500.00

Along the road, a young man runs with his lance lifted, while he is being attacked by the ghost of a woman. The woman sits in the basket the man is carrying. Her right arm raised, with a sword in her hands she is about to stab the man. At right we see a tombstone and a small wooden shrine. In the distance to the left a small bridge crosses a brook. Two swallows in the sky. On a pentimento the artist made minor corrections to the woman’s posture by redrawing those lines which differ from the original version, which is visible through the attached paper (left picture above). Only the top of the pentimento is pasted onto the drawing, so that we still have the chance to view the initial version underneath (right picture above). Reference: - R. Hempel, Ukiyo-e - Die Kunst der heiteren vergänglichen Welt ... (Scheiwe collection); Villa Hügel, Essen, 1972;  catalog p. 300, ill. no. 540 (this/our drawing)

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