JAPANESE ART > UKIYO-E WOODBLOCK PRINTS > THE GLAMOROUS OGIYA YUGIRI

Lot 00870
N.1 ukiyo-e woodblock print

Utagawa Kunisada

THE GLAMOROUS OGIYA YUGIRI

Year: 1863
Condition: good
Size: 24 x 36 cm

SOLD

Polychrome woodblock print of vertical large oban (大判) format made in September 1863 by the artist Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) and depicting the actor Sawamura Tanosuke III (三代目沢村田之助) in the role of Ogiya Yugiri (扇屋夕ぎり), the glamorous courtesan, female protagonist of the famous play "A Letter from the Pleasure Quarters" (廓文章), whom we see here wearing a hair band signifying that, in the drama, she has been sick.

The character of Yugiri is inspired by a real homonymous top-ranking courtesan, who worked in the house of pleasure Ogiya (扇屋) in Osaka and who died at the height of her fame and beauty.

The print, produced by the publisher Yamamotoya Heikichi (山本屋平吉), owner of Eikyudo (栄久堂), and by the carver Uemura Yasugoro (上邑安五郎), despite the presence of a small woodworm hole in the lower part and a second imperceptible hole on the woman's hair, is in good general condition.

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