Utagawa KUNISADA KUNISADA. 大高主殿 Lord ōtaka.
Utagawa KUNISADA (Toyokuni III)1786-1864
大高主殿 Lord ōtaka.1848
Polychrome woodcut. 364x260 mm, trimmed within margins. Title in red rectangular cartouche. Sign at the bottom to the right: "shimoto no ōju Toyokuni ga" [梓元乃応需豊国画] with Toshidama seal. "Paired" Nanushi Censor Seal Mera-Murata (米良-村田). Publisher: Maruya Seijirō, Marks #299. Some minor defects. Good condition.
A fine Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print depicting an actor of Kabuki theater. Utagawa Kunisada, also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III, was the most popular, prolific and commercially successful designer of ukiyo-ewoodblock prints in 19th-century Japan. In his own time, his reputation far exceeded that of his contemporaries, Hokusai, Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi. The Mera-Murata censors were active from 1847 to 1852. A print of the same series at the Waseda University Theatre Museum