Page 323 - japanese and korean art Utterberg Collection Christie's March 22 2022

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UTAGAWA KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
Boy's day decoration with Danjuro as The Demon Queller
Shoki
Woodblock print, surimono, signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ei, sealed
Kuniyoshi, circa 1849
Obirobosho surimono: 15º x 21√ in. (38.7 x 55.6 cm.)

$30,000-40,000

PROVENANCE:
Henri Vever (1854-1943), Paris
This oversize surimono was commissioned by two groups of wealthy
fishmongers, the Shinga and the Uogashi, on the occasion of
the departure for Osaka by the celebrated by the celebrated actor
Ichikawa Danjuro VIII, also known as Sansho after his family's
distinctive crest. The actor was about to visit his famous father
Danjuro VII (Ebizo V), who had been living in the Kansai
area since 1842 after his exile from Edo for infractions of the
government's sumptuary laws.

Danjuro VIII is portrayed as Shoki (known in China as Zhong
Kui), a Chinese mythological figure easily recognizable by
his bulging eyes, bushy beard, military outfit, scholar's hat,
and straight, double-edged sword whose hilt is just visible in
Kuniyoshi's image. In Japan it became common for families with
boys to hang Shoki's image on banners outside their homes, along
with large paper carp, to celebrate the Boy's Festival on the fifth
day of the fifth month. Shoki paintings also acted as talismans
against bad luck and disease, and assured future health and
prosperity; sentiments that the actor's fan clubs would certainly
have wished extended to their idols.
To the left of Shoki, and the focus of his wide-eyed, squinting
glare, is a paper tag upon which Kuniyoshi has playfully painted
a fleeing demon. In the background floats a large paper carp
streamer, rendered in black to indicate that the two poetry groups'
felicitations are directed to both father and son. Poems from
members of the two groups appear at the top right and bottom left.
In the bottom right corner are short verses by Kuniyoshi himself,
the block-cutter Hori Takejiro, and the printer Suriko Masa, in
addition to the well-known Kabuki aficionado Goryutei Tokusho
(1793-1853), who presumably acted as one of the judges of the
poems included.