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Sign of the Rat (?): Young Lady with a Biwa at New Year, from an untitled triptych series of the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac Represented by Women and Fans


美人と扇絵の十二支三枚続き揃え 子ヵ お正月に琵琶を持つ美人
Utagawa Toyokuni I (Japanese, 1769–1825)
Publisher: Tsuruya Kinsuke (Sôkakudô) (Japanese)
Japanese
Edo period
1811 (Bunka 8), 11th month

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban; 38.3 x 25.7 cm (15 1/16 x 10 1/8 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.13629
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné TNM Ukiyo-e cat. 3 (1963), #2679 (attr. Toyokuni II); another print in the series, #2678
DescriptionProbably the center sheet of an incomplete triptych, with 11.13647 as the left sheet.
Signed Toyokuni ga
豊国画
Marks Censor's seals: kiwame, Tsuruya Kinsuke
改印:極、鶴金
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.