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YOSHITAKI, Utagawa (1841 - 1899)		Keisei Ama no Hagoromo - At a Ferry Station -
		Signed:              Yoshitaki ga and Yoshitaki hitsu Date:                  8/1862 Size:                   chûban triptych (c. 54 x 25 cms / c. 21 1/4" x 9 7/8") Condition: EXCELLENT impression, color and condition. - DELUXE printing with areas of black lacquer and metallic color pigments. The three sheets of the triptych come with their original album backing (pasted together). - Having formerly been bound in an album is the reason why the colors of this diptych are in such FINE condition. ref. no.:  # 763237 - Sold -

The triptych depicts a kabuki scene from the play, Keisei Ama no Hagoromo, performed at the Naka Theater, and shows three men at a ferry station near a castle. - The actors and their roles are, from right to left: Arashi Kichisaburô III (1810-1864) as Akamatsu Shirô Onoe Tamizô II (1799-1886) as Kitagawa Sôemon Jitsukawa Ensaburô (1813-1867) as Hosokawa Katsumoto. ==> Two of the actors are seen in a diptych by HIRONOBU, shown in this gallery section, as well. The Osaka - Kobe - Kyoto area was called "Kamigata" in the Edo period. The Ukiyo-e artists in Kamigata developed a unique style of their own, especially in thr yakusha-e (actor prints) genre. The production numbers of these prints were much smaller and the quality of printing generally much more refined than those of kabuki prints produced in Edo. Reference literature: R. Keyes / Keiko Mizushima, "The Theatrical World of Osaka prints", Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1973; The triptych is illustrated under cat. no. #418abc, b/w ill. on p. 257.

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