Morikawa Chikashige (active 1869 - 1882) Bunraku Scene of Ichikawa Danjuro VII, Ichikawa Sadanji in Sanemori Monogatari, 1878. Oban Triptych.
Click here for a full-size image.
This bold triptych by the under-rated Chikashige is a bit of a conundrum… in as much as it is hard to fit the performance with the picture. At this distance I can only offer the play title, the actors and the idea of the plot. The reason that this is an interesting piece is the presence of the puppets, being held aloft by the actors on stage. I suspect that the plot for the play, Sanemori Monogatari is being enacted by the puppets as a play within a play.
Of course bunraku, puppet, theatre preceded kabuki drama and provided many of the plot lines, characters and settings. Chikashige has organised the triptych so that the action of the two figures in the outer, blue area is in a different temporal ‘frame’ than the players and their puppets within the red cone.
This is a collectible bunraku scene, the three sheets are in good condition with some creasing. Colour and impression are very good overall, apart from some discolouration to two of the faces.
75 x 37 cm.
