Konishi Hirosada (ca 1810 - 1864) Scene from the play Keisei Somewake Tazuma, 1854. Four sheet Chuban.
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This is the second print of the same play in the current selection. The play Keisei Somewake Tazuma ("A Courtesan's Reins Dyed in Different Colours") is long and involved.. The play was actually written, or in fact rewritten by the actor Nakamura Utaemon III in 1822. The story involves a shop owner and his older brother who stop conspirators from stealing the treasures of a wealthy landowning family, and features Sankichi, a tobacconist, who is the humble hero of the drama.
This is a rather magnificent and generous four sheet print, having a nighttime snow scene and lavish interiors. Hirosada shows, (reading from right sheet) Mimamasu Daigoro IV as Yamagataya, Nakayama Nanshi II as Chigiriya Oume , Yamashita Kinsaku IV as the maid Osetsu and Jitsukawa Enzaburo I as the Tobacconist Sankichi.
Sankichi appears in the other print but in that case confronting a giant snake!
The four sheets are unbacked, colour, impression and condition are all fine. An outstanding polyptych.
71 x 25 cm.
