Tsukioka (Taiso) Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
A woman dressed in a homely checkered kimono reading the newspaper Kanayomi Shinbun. A red and white spotted cat with closed eyes is sitting on the small chest (or hibachi) next to her.
Title: Tori keshitai (I want to cancel my subscription)
Series: Mitate tai zukushi (A Collection of Desires)
Signature: Ôju Taiso Yoshitoshi ga. Seal: Yoshitoshi
Publisher: Inoue Mohei (Hoeidô), Tokyo. Date: Meiji 11 (1878)
Original Japanese colour woodblock print. Size: Vertical Ôban, 37,4 x 25,4 cm (overall)
Very good early impression, excellent colours, with embossing in the cat's fur and burnishing in black details. Full margins, unbacked. Two tiny wormholes in the cartouche, a few small printer's smudges, otherwise excellent condition.
One of the best prints from this rarely seen early bijin series by Yoshitoshi. The texts were written by the novelist Takabatake Ransen (1838-94, here signed with his alias name Tentendô Shujin.
Van den Ing/Schaap, Beauty & Violence, p. 17, fig. 11; Uhlenbeck/Reigle Newland, Yoshitoshi, Masterpieces from the Ed Freis Collection, Leiden/Boston, 2011, series no. 59 and fig. no. 75, p. 106; Ôta Memorial Museum of Art, Cats in Ukiyo-e, p. 70, fig. 78. Cf. also MIA 2017.106.137; Philadelphia 1989-47-4
€ 1.900,-