KUNISADA. Yakusha-e. Half-length portrait...

Utagawa KUNISADA (Toyokuni III). 1786-1864

Yakusha-e. Half-length portrait of a Kabuki actor. Around 1832 - 1834

Polychrome woodcut. 381x260 mm, trimmed within margins. Sign left near the margin: “K?ch?r? Kunisada ga”. Under the signature: Artist's seal, double toshidama in red. Censor's seal: kiwame. Publisher’s mark of ?miya Heihachi. Print pasted on support card. Some minor defects.
Condition Report: A fine Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print. It is probably the famous actor Ichikawa Ebijûrô I, 1777-1827. 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.?miya Heihachi, Edo print publisher (Marks 413). Artists published by this house include Eisen, Eizan, Kunisada, Kuniyasu, Kuniyoshi, Sadahide, Shunk?, Shunsh? II, Shuntei, Toyokuni I and Toyokuni II. There is not much known about the publisher ?miya Heihachi apart from his location at Nihonbashi Yagenborich?. His earliest publications date to 1811 when he began to issue actor prints and prints of beautiful women.