Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770) - Lot 7

Lot n° 7
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Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770) - Lot 7
Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770) Hosoban tate-e, from the series Fūryū yatsushi nana Komachi (風流やつし七小町), Pleasant Aspects of the Seven Komachi, plate Kayoi (かよひ), The Visit, second state. Unsigned. Circa 1766-1767 (holes restored). Dim. 31 x 13.3 cm The title refers to a play narrating the story of Ono no Komachi (c. 825-900) and the ill-fated attempt of the courtier Fukakusa. Before accepting his love, Komachi forces Fukakusa to visit him for one hundred consecutive nights and wait for him outside. However, it's on the hundredth night that he dies of exhaustion. The Yoshiwara courtesan depicted in this print symbolizes Komachi. She is waiting for her client, represented by the figure of Fukakusa hidden under raincoats in the storeroom: a customary costume for visitors to the pleasure district who did not wish to be recognized. Next to him, an anonymous poem from Kokin wakashū. Ono no Komachi (ca. 825-900), one of the Six Immortal Poets, was famous for her qualities as a poet as much as for her great beauty and contempt for her suitors. A set of seven episodes from her life, the Nanakomachi, were a popular theme in plays and ukiyo-e. The first state of this series is recognizable by Harunobu's signature, which this print does not bear. It must therefore be a second state. There is also a third state, unsigned, but with the addition of Harimaya Shinshichi's mark and the word hanmoto, but it is quite rare. References This print appeared in the exhibition The Riddles of Ukiyo-e. Women and Men in Japanese Prints 1765-1865, Japan Museum SieboldHuis, Leiden, 2023. Reproduced in the exhibition catalog, pp. 24-25. Similar prints reproduced in : Chiba City Museum of Art & Hagi Uragami Museum of Art, eds. Seishun no ukiyo-eshi Suzuki Harunobu - Edo no kararisuto tōjō/Suzuki Harunobu, Ukiyo-e artist of the springtime of youth (2002) p. 37 Waterhouse, The Harunobu Decade: A Catalogue of Woodcuts by Suzuki Harunobu and His Followers in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (2013) cat. nr. 159-160 A similar example in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Accession number 21.4970
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