Utagawa Hiroshige

1797-1858

Fashionable Genji at Suma
(Furyu Genji Suma)

the left sheet signed Hiroshige ga with artist's red rectangular artist's seal with publisher's seal Isekane (Iseya Kanekichi), the right sheet signed Toyokuni ga; each sheet with carver's seal of Yokogawa Takejiro, censor's seals Murata (Murata Heiemon) and Kinugasa (Kinugasa Fusajiro), and date seal usha-shi (year of the ox, fourth month [1853])

oban tate-e triptych 28 7/8 by 14 1/8 in., 73.5 by 36 cm

This print is from a group of collaborative triptychs produced in the 1850s by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) and Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III, 1786-1865), arguably the leading landscape print artist and the leading actor and figure print artists of the era.

In the classic version of Genji Monogatari, Genji is exiled to Suma in Chapter 12 and 13 due to erroneous accusations at the Imperial court.

References:
Matthi Forrer, The Baur Collection: Japanese Prints, 1994, Vol. II, no. G582
Miyeko Murase, The Tale of Genji: Legends and Paintings, 2001, nos. 12-13

(inv. no. 10-0942)

price: Sold