Skip to main content
Artist/Maker
Utagawa Kuniyoshi
(Japanese, 1798 – 1861)
Date1845-46
MediumWoodblock print
DimensionsSheet: 13 11/16 × 9 3/8 in. (34.8 × 23.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Professor Franklin A. Sciacca
Object number2018.8.2
Not on view
DescriptionUtagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797-1861) was a well-known Edo period artist. This print is from the series Ogura nazorae Hyakunin Isshū (Ogura Imitation of the Hundred Poets), which was published by Ibaya Senzaburõ between 1845 and 1848 and featured fifty-one plates by Kuniyoshi, along with thirty-five by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) and fourteen by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865). Each plate is inscribed with a poem from the thirteenth-century anthology Hyakunin isshu (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each) and an explanatory text by the writer Ryùkatei Tanekazu (1807-1858). This print, plate 76, displays a poem and a portrait of Hoshoji Nyudo Saki-no-kwampaku Daijo-Daijin in the upper section. Below, the robber Hakamadare Yasuke is depicted dressed in court robes with a large box of loot on his back, having robbed the palace at Kyoto before being captured by the night-guards. The series was produced in response to censorship against popular portraits of Kabuki actors, as it disguises Kabuki references within a literary and historical framework.
Additional Details
Provenance
2018: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art), by gift of Franklin A. Sciacca;
1977 - 2018: Franklin A. Sciacca, by purchase from Ronin Gallery, New York City.
1977 - 2018: Franklin A. Sciacca, by purchase from Ronin Gallery, New York City.
Markings
Stamps: a number of stamps with kanji at left center composition, lower left corner of composition, lower left margin, and right center composition in black ink; lotus stamp at right center composition in red ink.
Signature
Not signed.
Inscribed
Extensive inscription in kanji in block at upper register of print in black ink.
Toyokuni III
Date: 1852
Medium: Polychrome woodblock print on two sheets of paper
Object number: 1994.92
Spencer Finch
Date: 2018
Medium: Seven framed archival inkjet photographs
Object number: 2019.9.a-g
Katsushika Hokusai
Date: 1835
Medium: Woodblock print
Object number: 2018.8.1
Julia Margaret Cameron
Date: 1867 (published 1893)
Medium: Photogravure, mounted on matboard
Object number: 1990.6
Christoph Jamnitzer
Date: published 1610 (possibly printed later)
Medium: Engraving
Object number: 1928.11
Giorgio Ghisi
Date: c. 1540 (printed later)
Medium: Engraving
Object number: 1992.51
Unknown artist, Japanese
Date: date unknown
Medium: Ink and hand-colored drawing
Object number: 2024.1.2
Karen Hampton
Date: 2001
Medium: Natural dyes and hand-stitching on found cotton tea towel
Object number: 2016.13
William E. Williams
Date: 1995 (printed 1997)
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 2008.6
Hendrick Goltzius
Date: 1592
Medium: Engraving
Object number: 1992.56