Toyokuni III. 1786-1865.
Series: Actors from the 53 Stations of the Tokaido.
Date: 1852.
Size: vertical oban.
This is the artist's best series of actor bust portraits. The prints were designed to be diptychs; however most of the sheets appear singly.
The information on the large screens has been provided by Horst Graebner's excellent website on the artist's prints: Kunisada.
This series poses actors in famous roles set against locations of the Tokaido. The views of the stations of the Tokaido are modified versions of those made famous by Hiroshige with his first version of the series published by Hoeido some twenty years earlier. The actors were identified by their roles only due to prohibitions at the time- but the audience would have recognized the actors based on the character titles and their features as portrayed by Kunisada.
Click on the images for larger screens; large screens are hyperlinked.
Title Page. 13 1/8 x 3 1/4 inches. Five wormage holes. $100.
Asakasa, Sawai. Excellent color, good condition. $225.
Chiryu. Printed with gauffrage in the white part of the robe. Good color, impression and condition, apart from minor soiling, less pronounced than in the image. $250.
Fujikawa. Excellent color and condition. $300.
Futakawa Excellent color, impression and condition. $275.
Hodogaya. Excellent color, impression and condition. $350.
Ishibe - Ohan. Station 52. Excellent color, impression and condition. $350.
Ishiyakushi. Fine color. Fair condition -- two small stains in the top, small paper losses, 1 in top and 2 in bottom margins. $125.
Kawasaki Fine color. Fair condition -- wormage and paper losses in the arm, 3 losses in the sky. $125.
Kusatsu played by Arashi Yoshisaburo. Station 53. Very good color, impression and condition. $275.
Kyo - Ishikawa Goemon. Station 55:.Good color, impression and condition. Some surface soiling. $225.
Mishima. excellent color and impression. Slight soiling and creasing. $225.
Nihombashi. Fair color, poor condition: paper losses, soiling. $150.
Numazu. Excellent color and condition. $350.
Odawara Good color. and condition. $250. Another impression with uneven inking in the sky and a small tear in the lower margin, $200.
Okazaki. Good color and condition. Some printing folds in the face and arms. $200.
Sakanoshita Good color and condition. $225.
Seki-Koman. Station 48. Good color and condition. Slight soiling in the neck. $275.
Shinagawa. Good color. Several small holes in top sky and margin, paper loss on lower margin, printing folds. $125.
Shono. Good color. Several small holes in top margin, paper loss on lower margin, printing folds. $175.
Totsuka. Good color. Image loss to the left of the man's shoulder, one ink stain in the sky, 1 pinhole in the arm,slight soiling. One pinhole in the arm. $175
Tsuchiyama. Good color and condition. Slight soiling. $300.
Yokkachi Excellent color and condition. $250.
Yoshiwara. Excellent color and condition. Embossing in the collar. $300.
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