Diptyque original à gravure sur bois - Papier - Yakusha-e (photo de l'acteur) - Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) - Ichikawa Danjurô VIII as Fukuoka Mitsugu and Iwai Kumesaburô III as Okon of the Aburaya - Japon - 1852 (Kaei 5), 4e mois

Original woodblock print diptych - Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1865) - Ichikawa Danjurô VIII as Fukuoka Mitsugu and Iwai Kumesaburô III as Okon of the Aburaya - Japan - 1852 (Kaei 5), 4th month

Diptych by Utagawa Kunisada, 歌川 国貞, 1786 – 1865), known as Utagawa Toyokuni III, 三代 歌川 豊国.
It is a depiction of actors (Yakusha-e) in a scene from the kabuki theatre play 'Ise Ondo Koi no Netaba'.
Shown in the right panel is actor Iway Kumesaburô III (the name that actor Iway Hanshirô VII adopted from 1832 to 1864) in the role of Okon of the Aburaya, and in the left panel presumably Ichikawa Danjurô VIII in the role of Mitsugu Fukuoka (?).

The diptych was published in 1852, 4th month, with two round nanushi censor seals of Kinugasa & Murata 衣笠、村田m, and an oval date seal.
Publisher: Izumiya Ichibei, (和泉屋市兵衛)

Condition: acceptable, with restorations of worm holes, mostly on the top edge, fading, blotchy. Normal ageing characteristics. Good register (adjusting the colour blocks on the mother block).

See Waseda University: https://archive.waseda.jp/archive/detail.html?arg={%22subDB_id%22:%2252%22,%22id%22:%22193243;46%22}&lang=jp

and https://archive.waseda.jp/archive/detail.html?arg={%22subDB_id%22:%2252%22,%22id%22:%22193242;13%22}&lang=jp

The prints will be packaged with care and shipped by registered post, using Bpost Tracking.