Page 325 - japanese and korean art Utterberg Collection Christie's March 22 2022

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UTAGAWA KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
Shiohi goban no uchi (Five prints of shell-gathering at low
tide)
Woodblock print, surimono, a set of five prints, embellished with
metallic pigment and embossing, each signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga,
circa 1830
Shikishiban surimono: (20.7 x 18 cm.) each approx. (5)
$20,000-30,000

Culture elites in Edo gathered to exchange kyoka, or “crazy” This lot is a spectacular example of the genre. Women and a child
verse: short, witty eipgrams usually in humourous vein, for special are depicted digging for clams, while another woman on the right
occasions. There are affiliated small groups that were socially has caught a flounder and her companion has grabbed an octopus.
exclusive and met more frequently. The best poetries were selected The poems are by the members of the Hisakataya shachu and
after each gathering and to commemorate the members, usually celebrate the pleasure of beachcombing. Their symbol, the bridge
high-ranking samurai, government officials, wealthy prelates, rich for a koto, a stringed musical instrument that was placed on the
merchants, artists and writers, commissioned prominent painters floor, appears at the top right of each design.
to design prints for the poetries. These commemoratives were
known as surimono. They featured lavish printing and block-cutting Hisakataya group commissioned another larger set of surimono
techniques as well as expensive papers. of women representing the members of the bandit group, which
includes a very similar pentatych of female salt-gatherers on the
seashore. They commissioned this set for the New Dragon Year of
1832, and the present lot is likely to have been made around the
same time.