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Actor Nakamura Shikan IV as a Firefighter, from the series Flowers of Edo, Excitement at Night (Edo no hana yoru no nigiwai)


「江戸花夜の賑」 四代目中村芝翫 「成駒 中むら 芝」
Utagawa Yoshitsuya (Japanese, 1822–1866)
Publisher: Ebiya Rinnosuke (Kaijudô) (Japanese)
Blockcutter: Matsushima Masakichi (Hori Masa) (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
1860 (Ansei 7/Man'en 1), 9th month

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban; 34.9 × 24.1 cm (13 3/4 × 9 1/2 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.22715
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Waseda db 201-1642 (R), 012-0315 (C), 012-0316 (L); NDL db
DescriptionRight sheet of incomplete triptych (or larger polyptych).
Inscriptions on the lanterns in the background give clues to the identity of each actor.

MFA impressions: 11.22715 (R only), 11.37790-2 (complete triptych, with variant version of R), 11.37796 (C only)
Additional prints in the series, which can be assembled as an optional polyptych: 11.37793, 11.37794, 11.37795, 11.37797, 11.37798
At least two more designs in the series are in the collection of the National Diet Library.
Signed Ichieisai Yoshitsuya ga
一英斎芳艶画
Marks Censor's seal: Monkey 9 aratame
Blockcutter's mark: Matsushima Hori Masa
改印:申九改
彫師:松島彫政
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 - d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.