Page 165 - Christies Japanese and Korean Art Sept 22 2020 NYC

assuming that Hokusai visited a real place, despite the level of activity series of “perspective pictures” (uki-e) of around 1800 has affinities
and detail that argue that he did. with the Western perspective elements Hokusai employs here, in
addition to the traditional Japanese technique of removing the roof to
What is unmistakable is the footprint of the pentaptych’s publisher, allow us into the scene and the black Chinese-style archway into the
Iseya Rihei (firm name Kinjudo). He gives his name and Edo address peacock hallway.
in Shitaya, Ikenohata, Naka-cho in the right cartouche in sheet one.
He emblazons his emblem on the wrapped casks of sake in sheet five Iseya Rihei and Hokusai stopped collaborating by most accounts in
next to his name “I” “se” “ri” and proclaims on the cask below, the late 1810s. The pentaptych has been dated variously from 1804
“Fashionable new print in five panels.” It is amusing to find all the to 1811 on the strength of this curtailed partnership, the style of the
spots the publisher has had his mark inserted into the design: the artist’s signature and Hokusai’s decision to turn away from beauty
green aprons of the cooks and green wrapping cloth in sheet one; prints in favor of intensified painting commissions and landscapes.
the green robe of a maid struggling with a stack of lacquer trays in The additional censor’s seal Mori Ji to the left of the smaller, round
sheet two. After great success releasing actor prints by Toyokuni censor’s seal kiwame (certified) was used by Moriya Jihei to censor
in the 1780s and beauty prints by Utamaro in the 1790s, Iseya prints in 1811 and possibly other years. Yet, there is an additional
tapped Hokusai, by then an established artist in his thirties. A joint detail that might signify a different date: a small wooden plaque
venture of Iseya and Hokusai of around 1801, The Storehouse of Loyal painted with a rooster leans against a wood cask above the oven––a
Retainers, a Primer (Kanadehon Chushingura) has the same purple-rose- casual signal, perhaps, that this pageant celebrates the beginning of the
yellow palette and a similar method of using architectural elements to lunar Year of the Rooster, which for Iseya and Rihei took place in
vary the action and the scene. Another Iseya/Hokusai Chushingura Bunka 10, or 1813.