YASHIMA GAKUTEI: kakuban (20.6 x 18.4 cm.); Okyo, depicting a courtesan holding the post of a kimono rack, her robes decorated with clouds that match the clouds surrounding two flying geese which decorate the base of the stand. The geese represent the two ducks which Okyo (Chin: Wang Ch'iao) used to visit the emperor. The figure is placed against a patterned ground with white cranes on blue. One poem by Mitsu no Hamanari accompanies the design. From the series Keisei mitate resenden nanaban no uchi "the biographies of wise men parodied by courtesans - a set of seven", signed Toto Gakutei and is sealed Sadaoka -- fine impression, color and condition

Details

YASHIMA GAKUTEI: kakuban (20.6 x 18.4 cm.); Okyo, depicting a courtesan holding the post of a kimono rack, her robes decorated with clouds that match the clouds surrounding two flying geese which decorate the base of the stand. The geese represent the two ducks which Okyo (Chin: Wang Ch'iao) used to visit the emperor. The figure is placed against a patterned ground with white cranes on blue. One poem by Mitsu no Hamanari accompanies the design. From the series Keisei mitate resenden nanaban no uchi "the biographies of wise men parodied by courtesans - a set of seven", signed Toto Gakutei and is sealed Sadaoka -- fine impression, color and condition

Lot Essay

The crane device was the symbol of the Tsurunoya group, the original commissioners of the series. The blue ground version is the original edition. The series was later reissued with a pink ground under the title Kuchikiren juban no uchi keisei mitate resenden "Courtesans imitating the biographies of wise men - ten prints for the Kuchiki group" and without the artist's seal Sadaoka (see following lot). For another version of the present print see Van Rappard-Boon, no. 234, p. 123. The pink ground version was sold in these rooms October 16, 1986, lot 112c.