About This Print
Source: Time Present and Time Past: Images of a Forgotten Master: Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900), Amy Reigle Newland, Hotei Publishing, 1999, p. 46.A contemporary bijin sits sipping tea in a tea house, the interior of which is rendered using single point perspective introduced to Japan by the Dutch in the 17th century and in wide use in Japan by the late 18th century.
The Series "Newly Woven Brocades: Beauties of Musashi"
Source: Time Present and Time Past: Images of a Forgotten Master: Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900), Amy Reigle Newland, Hotei Publishing, 1999, p. 20.In discussing this series, Newland in Time Present and Time Past: Images of a Forgotten Master: Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900), states: "Complicated interior settings [appear in the series] Newly woven brocades: Musashi beauties (Nishiki ori Musashi no beppin) of 1883. Here Musashi is a reference to the Musashi plain, which extended across Edo (modern Tokyo). References to the Musashi plain emerged in early Japanese poetry.... The theme was taken up by ukiyo-e print designers, thus becoming strongly linked to Edo's cultural indentity. In Newly woven brocades half-to three-quarter length portraits of individual women from the capital are placed in both interior and exterior settings..."
Newland goes on to say that the artist's rendering of beauties in this series offer a "more personalized female image more characteristic of Kunichika's age" and are a "far cry from lofty, unapproachable courtesan' of earlier times."
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #1260 |
| Title (Description) | Beauty drinking tea (poem in square cartouche is unread) |
| Series | Newly Woven Brocades; Beauties of Musashi 錦織武蔵の別品 Nishiki-ori Musashi no Beppin |
| Artists | Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900) and Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831-1889) |
| Signatures |  |
| Seals | red Toshidama seal beneath signature |
| Publication Date |  |
| Publisher |  Komiyama Shōbei 小宮山昇平left column: 出版人 小宮山昇平 shuppanjin Komiyama Shōbei (preceded by address in right column) [Marks; pub. ref. 269; seal ref. 26-136] |
| Carver |  |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | good - full margins; unbacked; soiling; water spotting |
| Genre | ukiyo-e; bijinga |
| Miscellaneous |  画工荒川八十八 [gakō (painter) Arakawa Yasohachi (Kunichika's mother's surname, Arakawa, and the artist's given name, Yasohachi, followed by the artist's address)] |
| Format | vertical oban |
| H x W Paper | 14 3/8 x 9 5/8 in. (36.5 x 24.4 cm) |
| H x W Image | 14 1/4 x 9 7/16 in. (36.2 x 24 cm) |
| Literature | Time Present and Time Past: Images of a Forgotten Master: Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900), by Amy Reigle Newland, Hotei Publishing, 1999, cat. 27 p. 64. |
| Collections This Print | Hagi Uragami Museum U01908 |
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