Kunisada, Musha-e of Zhang Fei

Utagawa Kunisada/Toyokuni III (1786-1865) Musha-e of Zhang Fei,  1815. Oban.

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The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a Chinese historical novel written in the fourteenth century by Luo Guanzhong about the period between the years 184 and 280 CE.  During this turbulent period of history, China was composed of three competing kingdoms; the Wei, the Han and the Wu. The novel is considered to be one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. It tells the story of the many battles and power struggles following the end of the Han dynasty, a period from 169 to 280 CE.

Guan Yu, Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, were known as the three heroes of the Chinese kingdom of Shu. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, was introduced into Japan in the early Edo period and remains popular today. They were usually depicted in the famous scene when they exchanged oaths of brotherhood while drinking wine in a peach orchard. This very rare and very important print by Kunisada is of one of the three heroes, Zhang Fei, and it was made very early in Kunisada’s print career, in 1815. Kunisada  was the most prolific of all the ukiyo artists, yet despite his output, only a handful of true warrior prints are known to exist. Horst Graebner’s catalogue raisonne lists only 50 in total from throughout his career. That this print is from 1815 adds to the rarity and also the academic importance of the piece. Kuniyoshi became famous for his ‘innovation’ of the single sheet oban musha-e with the publication of his One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden in 1827.  At the time, Kunisada was already a prosperous artist whilst Kuniyoshi had resorted to selling tatami mats to make ends meet. When the opportunity arose, it is inconceivable that Kuniyoshi did not use the few prints from Kunisada’s earlier series as the model for what was to become one of the most celebrated series of warrior prints.

Kunisada shows Zhang Fei in full armour, mounted on a horse. The print is much less sophisticated than the Kuniyoshi prints of 1827 that it would help to inspire. The process of multi-block printing in this commercial way was still being worked out. It is nevertheless a powerful image. Exceedingly rare and in very good condition. Full size, it retains the left margin, some scuffs and edge fritts but at two hundred years old, a remarkable survivor. There are no museum copies that I am aware of. Colour is fine and the impression remains as good as the technique of the day would allow. An outstanding print.

Published by: Moriya Jihei.

37 x 26 cm.

£550.00