Utagawa Kunisada (aka Toyokuni III)
Japanese (1786 – 1865) Primary

Botan ni cho itsuka fumibako 牡丹蝶初筐

Edo
1824

Greatest Dimensions
14 3/4 x 9 3/8 in. (37.465 x 23.813 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• actors - Persons who use movement, gesture, facial expressions, speaking, and intonation to create a fictional character for the stage, motion pictures, or television.
• edged weapons - Weapons featuring a sharp edge or point for cutting, thrusting, clubbing, slashing, or various combinations thereof.
• Edo - Refers to the period and style that developed from the unification of Japan in 1600 until the end of the shogunal dynasty in 1868. During this period, economic expansion encouraged the rise of an educated merchant class who created their own forms of literature and theater as well as new schools of painting and woodblock printing. A wide diversity of pictorial subjects and styles developed during this period and many 19th century Western artists were influenced by them.
• fans - Hand-held implements used to produce a current of air or that serve as purely decorative accessories; may be rigid or collapsible.
• Kabuki
• Kabuki
• kimonos - Loose, wide-sleeved garments fastened around the waist with an obi or broad sash, traditionally worn by Japanese men and women.
• oban - Japanese prints of a standard size about 15 3/4 by 10 1/2 inches.
• triptychs - Paintings or carvings consisting of or mounted on three attached panels, often hinged so that the outer wings fold over the central portion; a common form for altarpieces. Also used for other works having three related images side by side.
• Ukiyo-e - Distinctive genre in painting and other media, but most prominently in woodblock printing. It arose in the Edo period (1600-1868) and built up a broad popular market among the middle classes. Subject matter typically focused on brothel districts and kabuki theatres, with formats ranging from single sheet prints to book illustrations. Generally, the style is characterized by a mixture of the realistic narrative of the Kamakura period and the mature decorative style of the Momoyama and Edo periods. Distinctive styles and specialties in subject matter were developed by different schools throughout the period.
• Utagawa, Kunisada, 1786-1864 - Sources:
  - His Kunisada, 1966.
  - Kunisada, 1993:
  - Mirror of the stage, 1996:
  - Hayashi, Y. Utagawa Kunisada
  - JapanKnowledge Lib, May 9, 2017
  - Shinpan kabuki jiten/JapanKnowledge Lib, viewed May 9, 2017
  - Web NDL authorities, May 9, 2017
  - LC database, May 9, 2017
• woodcuts - Prints made using the process of woodcut, which is a relief process in which the design is cut into and printed from the plank side of a wood block; distinct from "wood engraving (process)," which is a relief process using the grain end of a wood block.