Utagawa Kunisada III (Kunimasa IV, Hosai)

1848-1920

Memorial Portrait of Suketakaya Takasuke IV & Sawamura Genpei III

signed Baido Kunimasa hitsu with artist's red Toshidama seal, carver's seal Hori Yu (Wada Yujiro), dated within the pale blue cartouche Meiji jukyu-nen ni-gatsu itsuka (Meiji 19 [1886] February 5th), followed by the publisher and artist's information shuppan-nin (publisher) Kamiyama Seishichi, gako (artist) Takeuchi Eikyu (birth name of Kunimasa IV), 1886

oban tate-e 14 by 9 3/8 in., 35.5 by 23.7 cm

This memorial portrait (shini-e) of actor Suketakaya Takasuke IV (Sawamura Tossho II, 1838-1886) records the date of death, the actor's age of forty-nine, and his burial at Asakusa Seigan Temple. He is depicted in the role of Karukaya Doshin, alongside his late adopted son Sawamura Genpei III (1869-1881) who predeceased his father by five years and is shown in the role of Ishidomaru from the play Karukaya Doshin Tsukushi no Iezuto.

The deathbed poem above the actor:

harusame ya
aware wo nokosu
tabi no sora

During the spring rain
traces of sorrows are left
in the sky as we travel

(inv. no. 10-5815)

price: $300