KUNISADA. Bijin-ga. Courtesan with toothpick. Colored woodcut. 175x115 mm. Excellent impression with metallic pigments, silver and gold, and blind printing (white collar, nasal bone), backed, moisture stains. Glued on cardboard. (356) Breast portrait of a courtesan with toothpick, behind the portrait monstrous fish in rushing tides. Emerging from the fold of the kimono is a roll of paper, an obvious allusion to Murasaki Shibuku, author of the Genji Monogatari, of which Kunisada illustrated a famous parody, the novel "Nise Murasaki inaka Genji," published serially from 1829 to 1842.Bijin-ga (beautiful person picture) is a generic term for pictures of beautiful women (bijin) in Japanese art, especially in woodblock printing of the ukiyo-e genre.

UTAGAWA KUNISADA I (TOYOKUNI III): A GROUP OF THREE WOODBLOCK PRINTS DEPICTING BIJIN UTAGAWA KUNISADA I (TOYOKUNI III): A GROUP OF THREE WOODBLOCK PRINTS DEPICTING BIJIN Utagawa Kunisada I (Toyokuni III) (1786-1864) Japan, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868) Color woodblock prints on paper. Vertical oban. 1. Signed Toyokuni ga. Titled Actor Ichikawa Shinsha I as Kokonoe of the Miuraya, from the series Imayo oshi-e kagami (Mirrors for Collage Pictures in the Modern Style). SIZE of the sheet 37.1 x 25.3 cm 2. Signed Toyokuni ga. Titled Shamisen-bori (Shamisen Canal), from the series Edo meisho hyakunin bijo (One Hundred Beautiful Women at Famous Places in Edo). SIZE of the sheet 35.1 x 25.3 cm 3. Signed Ichiyosai Tokuni ga with seal. Titled Bishamon, from the series Haikai Shichifukujin no uchi (Haikai Poems for the Seven Gods of Good Fortune). This painting portrays Bishamonten (also known as Varisravana), one of the seven lucky gods, as a beautiful woman. A pagoda which the god carries in his hand is painted on the woman’s kimono, and the woven pattern of the kimono and the pattern on the flowerpot containing a gourd. SIZE of the sheet 36.6 x 25.8 cm Condition: Very good condition with wear and browning of paper. Good impression and colors. Some stains, few wormholes, minor losses, and trimmed margins. One sheet gently mounted on a paper passepartout. Provenance: Family collection of either Felix Tikotin (1893-1986) or his son-in-law Louis (Loek) Borensztajn (1935-2021), Netherlands. Felix Tikotin (1893-1986) was an architect, art collector, dealer, and founder of the first Museum of Japanese Art in the Middle East. He became one of the world’s leading collectors of Japanese art, starting at the age of 18, and continued to collect and work as an art dealer in Berlin in the 1920s. In the 1930s Felix Tikotin fled from the Nazis and hid his collection in the Netherlands. After the war, he decided that his collection should be taken to Israel, where in 1959 and with the help of Abba Hushi, who was the mayor of Haifa, The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art was established. The Museum's collection comprises more than 8,000 items of art and crafts. Museum comparison: Compare a closely related print of Actor Ichikawa Shinsha I, in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, accession number 00.804. Compare a closely related print of Shamisen Canal, in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, accession number 11.29987. Compare a closely related print of Bishamon, with similar seals, in the collection of the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum, Saitama, number E-011.