791 - Asia - Japan - Sharaku, Toshusai. The actors Ichikawa Komazô III as Kameya Chûbei and Nakayama Tomisaburô as Umegawa. Color woodblock print with a mica background. Signed in the print at the top left; below that, the Kiwame censorship stamp and the publisher’s stamp of Tsutaya Juzaburo. Japan, Edo period, ca. 1794. Sheet dimensions: 38 x 25.7 cm.

Asia - Japan - Sharaku, Toshusai. The actors Ichikawa Komazô III as Kameya Chûbei and Nakayama Tomisaburô as Umegawa. Color woodblock print with a mica background. Signed in the print at the top left; below that, the Kiwame censorship stamp and the publisher’s stamp of Tsutaya Juzaburo. Japan, Edo period, ca. 1794. Sheet dimensions: 38 x 25.7 cm. MFA Boston 21.7236. - A beautiful print by Toshusai Sharaku (active 1794/95), for which a technique called kirazuri was used in the background—a method in which mica powder is mixed with pigments to create a shimmer. - Having suddenly appeared on the ukiyo-e scene in May 1794, this previously unknown newcomer made his debut with the renowned publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo, releasing 28 large-format okubi-e (large-headed portraits) of Kabuki actors. After publishing approximately 145 works in a short period of about ten months, Toshusai Sharaku disappeared just as suddenly as he had appeared. According to a popular theory, the artist was actually the Noh actor Saito Jurobei. - Slightly creased and with crease marks, somewhat discolored; reverse shows traces of a previous mounting. - Provenance: Private collection, Tokyo, Japan. *