Page 104 - September 21 2021 Important Japanese Art Christie's NYC

120 KITAGAWA UTAMARO (1754-1806)

Furyu mu tamagawa

(Fashionable six jewel rivers)

Woodblock prints, hexaptych, signed Utamaro
hitsu on each sheet, circa 1801-04
Vertical oban hexaptych: 14º x 10 in. (36.2 x
25.4 cm.) each approx. (6)

$20,000-30,000

PROVENANCE:
Sumi Nobuaki collection, Japan

EXHIBITED:
"Utamaro, Hokusai, Hiroshige: Ukiyoe sandai kyosho
ten" (Utamaro, Hokusai, Hiroshige: Exhibition of the
Three Masters of Ukiyo-e) Fukuoka City Museum,
Fukuoka Prefecture, 06 October-06 November, 2005

LITERATURE:
Utamaro, Hokusai, Hiroshige: Ukiyoe sandai kyosho ten
(Utamaro, Hokusai, Hiroshige: Exhibition of the Three
Masters of Ukiyo-e) (Japan: Fukuoka City Museum,
2005), exh. cat. pl. 39 (Utamaro).

Mutamagawa (Six Jewel Rivers), the subject favored by waka
poets for many centuries. Many artists including worked on the
subject including the famous series by Utamaro comprising six
prints depicting bust portrait of courtesans of the Yoshiwara.
This rare hexaptych work offered here depicts six beauties
representing six famous Jewel rivers.