Utamaro: Courtesan with two companions
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Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806)

The famous courtesan Hanaôgi from the Ôgiya house, together with two young companions, admires two Ikebana flower arrangements. An allusion (mitate) to the fourth act of the Chûshingura drama.

Title: Yondanme (the fourth act)

Series: Kômei bijin mitate Chûshingura, jûnimai tsuzuki (The Chûshingura Drama Parodied by Famous Beauties: A Set of Twelve Prints)

Signature: Utamaro hitsu

Publisher: Ômiya Gonkurô (Shûhôdô), Edo

Date: 1794/95, here c. 1796 f

Size: Vertical Oban, 37,5 x 24,2 cm

Excellent impression in still very good colours. Margins a little trimmed. Age patina as slight soiling and rubbing at left margin, a few small, expertly restored wormholes in marginal areas. Ink stain in top and two ink entries near bottom margin. Overall still very good condition.

Very rare print. Here in the a little later edition of 1796 f, bearing the name of the courtesan, but without the (deleted) name "Daizaburô" of the young woman in the foreground. It is assumed that this obviously male name suggests that she is actually a he, i.e. a kagema, a male prostitute in female clothing. Due to the enforced censorship regulations of 1796, the publisher had to remove the names of all persons except for those of officially licensed courtesans.

Asano/Clark, The Passionate Art of Kitagawa Utamaro, 1995, No. 210-4 and text vol. p. 157 ff. Collia, The Complete Woodblock Prints of Kitagawa Utamaro. A Descriptive Catalogue, 2009, p. 143 ff, no. 91, 4. Cf. also Rijksmuseum, RP-P-2008-170; Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, no. P.351-1945.

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