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Barnebys HQ
Brahegatan 10
BOX 5038
114 37 Stockholm
All auctions / Ancient Art / Memorial Portrait (Shini-e) of Kabuki Actor Onoe Kikugorō IV — Death Print
** A rare Death Print, Man'en 1 (1860) ** Artist: Unsigned (無款) — no signature or seal appears on the sheet, consistent with a number of the memorial sheets issued for this actor's death Title: Untitled shini-e (死絵, "death picture") for the actor Onoe Kikugorō IV (四代目尾上菊五郎), shown as a young woman (musume) in a blue kimono patterned with a lotus pond, escorted by a demon-masked figure carrying a large black umbrella — understood to represent the actor Arashi Otohachi III Occasion: Memorial sheet marking the death of Onoe Kikugorō IV, who died on the 28th day of the 6th month of Man'en 1 (1860) and was buried at Kōraku-ji temple, Imado, Asakusa; the inscribed verse is attributed to his haiku pen-name, Baifu (梅婦) Date: 1860 (Man'en 1), 6th month Technique: Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and colour on paper Format: Vertical ōban approx. 35*24 cm Condition Fair overall. Colour and impression are good throughout. The paper is fair — minor trimming, scattered soiling, some surface rubbing, and minor old repairs are present, with a small loss at the lower edge. The sheet remains firm and supple to the touch, with no brittleness.. Please check the images carefully! About the Print Shini-e — "death pictures" — were issued within days of a well-known actor's death, sold as instant memorial keepsakes for fans and fellow performers. They typically show the actor not on stage but in an imagined, often symbolic scene: dressed for the road to the afterlife, in the robes of a Buddhist pilgrim, or, as here, accompanied by a demon figure evoking the journey beyond this world. The inscribed death poem (jisei), the posthumous Buddhist name, the date and place of burial, and the actor's family crest are standard elements of the form, all present on this sheet. Onoe Kikugorō IV (1808–1860) was one of the leading actors of the late Edo stage, admired for his range across villain, ghost, and female roles alike; his death in the summer of 1860 prompted a wave of memorial prints from several of the leading Utagawa-school designers, a number of which — signed and unsigned alike — are preserved today in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts' Bigelow Collection. This sheet, showing Kikugorō in a female role shadowed by a demon-masked companion, belongs to that same outpouring of tribute prints from the summer of 1860.
Estimate:£154.28
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Estimate:
£154.28
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