Album Chirimengami-e con 6 trittici Genji-e della scuola Utagawa - Carta, Inchiostro - Genji-e - Utagawa Fusatane (act. 1854-1888), Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865), Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833-1904) - Giappone - 1860 circa (periodo Edo)

Chirimengami-e album containing 6 Utagawa-school Genji-e triptychs Utagawa Fusatane (act. 1854-1888), Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865), Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833-1904) - Japan - ca 1860 (Edo period)

Crepe album containing 6 Genji-e triptychs from the Utagawa school.

Triptychs from, respectively:

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III) 歌川 国貞 (1786-1865);
1 - "Hana no en Murasaki no omokage" 花宴紫面影 ('The Festival of the Cherry Blossom': Memories of Murasaki), 1860,

2 - "Kigantei no yozakura" 帰雁庭の夜さくら (Cherry Blossoms at Night in the Garden of Returning Geese), 1854,

See Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/498227

3+4 - "Ai moyō Genji jidate" 相模様源氏製, 1855, originally a hexaptych,

Utagawa Fusatane 歌川 房種 (active 1854-1889);
5 - (Beauties playing hanetsuki), 1854,

Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833–1904);
6 - "Mitsuuji Ôigawa yûran no zu" 光氏大井川遊覧の図 (Mitsuuji's Excursion to the Ôi River), 1860.

See Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Falsely attributed to Yoshitsuya): https://collections.mfa.org/objects/462459

Publishing date of album: ca 1860 (Edo period)

Album size: 21.8 x 16 cm
Size of the triptychs: 21.8 x 45 cm

The colours of the woodblock prints are in very good condition, due to the presentation in an album.

Condition: cover and flyleaves have minor signs of wear. Text in ink on the title vignette. Edge of the Fusatane/Yoshitsuya triptych is slightly bent. Left panel of the Yoshitsuya triptych has a minor, narrow, vertical stain. Last flyleaf has a crack and has partly come loose from the cover. Spine of the album has a small tear measuring 1 cm. Other than that the book and the woodblock prints are in good condition.

The lot will be packaged with care and shipped insured with a Track & Trace code.

In the 19th century, the novel 'A Rustic Genji by a Fraudulent Murasaki' (Nise Murasaki inaka Genji) by Ryūtei Tanehiko (1783-1842), gave rise to a completely new genre in Japanese printing: the Genji-e (Genji pictures).
It was published as a series between 1829 and 1842. The story charts the experiences of womaniser Prince Mitsuuji.
Tanehiko based his Genji on the 11th-century novel, 'The Tale of Genji'. The text was illustrated by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865).
The series achieved an enormous commercial success.