BUNCHO: hosoban (32.8 x 14.2cm. ea. approx.); two full-length portraits of actors, one of Bando Matataro IV as Soga no Goro, the plover pattern on his robe enhanced by brass dust; and another of Otani Hiroji III as Kudo Suketsune, in the play Shuen Soga omugaeshi, performed at the Ichimura theater 1/1768, signed Ippitsusai Buncho ga; the second with unidentified publisher's mark carved in reserve on the color block below the figure--very good impressions, the first, slightly faded though pale-blue color slightly preserved on the background, the second, very slightly soiled and creased on corners, the first, faint creases on the bottom (2)

Details

BUNCHO: hosoban (32.8 x 14.2cm. ea. approx.); two full-length portraits of actors, one of Bando Matataro IV as Soga no Goro, the plover pattern on his robe enhanced by brass dust; and another of Otani Hiroji III as Kudo Suketsune, in the play Shuen Soga omugaeshi, performed at the Ichimura theater 1/1768, signed Ippitsusai Buncho ga; the second with unidentified publisher's mark carved in reserve on the color block below the figure--very good impressions, the first, slightly faded though pale-blue color slightly preserved on the background, the second, very slightly soiled and creased on corners, the first, faint creases on the bottom (2)

Provenance

Wakai Kenzaburo

Lot Essay

These portraits are two panels from a polyptych illustrating the Soga Brothers' first encounter with their enemy Kudo Suketsune. These are among Buncho's earliest color prints. Katsukawa Shunsho also designed a hosoban pentaptych of this performance.