Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Yakusha-e: Kabuki Prints, a Continuing Tradition

(from 29th Nov 2011 until 4th Mar 2012)

Discover the brightly coloured woodblock prints of actors from Japanese popular theatre.

Detail of The actor Nakamura Shikan IV as the fisherman Fukashichi, Tōkyō, 1869 (Museum No: EA1971.2
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The geisha Sankatsu holding two halves of a sake cup

  • Description

    In this triptych [see EA1983.36], two merchants compete for the love of the geisha Sankatsu. Sankatsu holds the two halves of a red sake cup in her hands, demonstrating her divided loyalties towards the two men.

    Prints were produced by a team of craftsmen employed by a publisher. The publisher commissioned an artist to produce an image, which was then carved onto wooden blocks by an engraver and finally inked and printed up by the printer. At first prints were restricted to black outlines, which were often hand-coloured. By the mid-1700s, multiple blocks were being used to print several different colours onto a single sheet of paper.

  • Details

    Associated place
    AsiaJapanHonshūKantōTōkyō prefecture Tōkyō (place of creation)
    AsiaJapanHonshūKantōTōkyō prefecture Tōkyō (place of publication)
    Date
    1849 - 1850
    Artist/maker
    Utagawa Kunisada (1823-1880) (designer)
    Associated people
    Sanoya Kihei (active c. 1801 - 1878) (publisher)
    Kinugasa Fusajirō (active c. 1843 - 1853) (censor)
    Watanabe Shoemon (active c. 1849 - 1853) (censor)
    Material and technique
    woodblock
    Dimensions
    mount 55.5 x 26.6 cm (height x width)
    sheet 34.9 x 23.3 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by Christ Church College, University of Oxford, 1983.
    Accession no.
    EA1983.36.b

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

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