Ukiyo-e Prints

浮世絵版画

UTAGAWA TOYOKUNI III

&

UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE

三代歌川豊国 *** 歌川広重

Series: A Selection of Ten Flowers

當盛十花選 

Subject: The Cotton Rose* (芙蓉 or ふよう)

Mat Size: 16" x 20"

Print Size: 14 3/8" x 9 1/2"

Publisher: Ebisuya Shōshichi

恵比須屋庄七

Date: 1854, 6th Month

Kaei 7

嘉永7

Illustrated:

Other copies of this print are shown

online at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts,

the Musée d’art et d’histoire,

Ville de Genève, Waseda University,
and at the Hankyu Culture Foundation.

SOLD!

A full set of these prints is displayed on the Internet at the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University.

Each print is clickable and can be enlarged for better viewing.

***

Not only can you find a plethora of source material at this site, but you may even find another example

of a print you own or other related prints. Many of these are unpublished elsewhere.

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(Unfortunately for non-Japanese language readers this site is a bit difficult and daunting at the beginning,

but is an invaluable source displaying more than 47,000 images and well worth a visit.)

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The museum in Geneva and the MFA state that the two figures

represent Kataoka Gadō II et Ōtani Tokuji II.

Publisher's Seal:

Ebisuya Shōshichi

Trimmed on

the right.

Date & Censor Seals:

1854, 6th Month

Signature:

Toyokuni ga

within the

toshidama cartouche

Signature:

Hiroshige ga

This signature is difficult to see, but can be found in the upper right quadrant.

風鈴

FŪRIN

THE JAPANESE WIND CHIME

It has surprised me how sparse the information is about fūrin in English and I am not sure it is much better in Japanese. All that I could find stated that they are made from several different materials: metal, glass, bamboo or pottery. They are a standard of the Japanese home in the summer. They are hung from the eaves of the house and often have a poem written on paper, i.e, a tanzaku (短冊 or たんざく), hung from the clapper.

Eishi bijin and child

among flowers and a fūrin

HIROSHIGE

and the hibiscus

***

sort of

(because they are not all properly speaking hibiscus or of the same genus)

Hiroshige and Toyokuni III were paired together in several sets of prints. I would like to say that they had chosen to work with one another, but I don't know if it was their decision or that of their editors. In any case, they both brought a sure hand and great reputations to such projects.

*

Hiroshige had long had a reputation for the creation of kachō-e (花鳥絵), i.e., bird and flower images. There was an ancient tradition of such images going back to some of the finest Chinese painters. While Hiroshige was not the first to produce such imagery he was among the best. The overall size of his all-inclusive ouevre  is astounding and among these are a number of representations of hibiscus and related flowers. Below are a selection of details of some of these prints.

Just a note: Ever since I first learned about the existence of kachō-e as a separate genre of Japanese prints I have been a bit stupefied by the translation of the first two characters. Literally they should read as 'flower bird', but that is not how we refer to them. I couldn't possibly explain this disconnect to you except to say that perhaps 'bird and flower' trips off the tongue a little more easily. Go figure.