歌川国貞 （三代歌川豊国）画　「六玉顔」 山吹を持つ光氏|Mitsuuji with Mountain Roses (Yamabuki), from the series “Six Jewel Faces” (Mu tama-gao)

Utagawa Kunisada

mid-to-late 1830s · Uncut fan print; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

Mitsuuji, the samurai protagonist of A Fraudulent Murasaki’s Rustic Genji, is shown in this half-bust portrait on a fan print. His “lobster-tail” topknot, flipped forward and split in front (not how elite samurai actually wore their hair), became a trademark feature of depictions by Utagawa Kunisada and his disciples. The colorful background, with explosions of tie-dyed floral motifs, is a reminder of how Kunisada made all his thousands of Genji-print designs a visual record of different textile patterns of the day. The title Six Jewel Faces (Mu tama-gao), along with its allusion to the literary theme of Six Jewel Rivers, suggests that this set of fan prints captures the appearance of a half-dozen attractive individuals, and, indeed, the other five works in the set show images of beautiful women, mostly courtesans of the pleasure quarters.

Artist

Utagawa Kunisada

Date

mid-to-late 1830s

Medium

Uncut fan print; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Purchase, Alan and Barbara Medaugh Gift, 2019