A Six-fold Screen of Famous Pictures (Meiga rokushi byôbu): Actors Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII as Narihira at Yatsuhashi (above) and Bandô Shûka I as a Courtesan Reading by Candlelight (below)

「名画六枝屏風」　八橋に業平（八代目市川団十郎）、蝋燭で本を読む遊女（初代坂東しうか）

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797–1861)
Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburô (Dansendô) (Japanese)
Blockcutter: Matsushima Fusajirô (Horikô Fusajirô, Hori Fusa) (Japanese)

Japanese

Edo period

1847–52 (Kôka 4–Kaei 5)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper

Dimensions Vertical ôban; 36.5 x 23.6 cm (14 3/8 x 9 5/16 in.)

Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection

Accession Number11.36717

NOT ON VIEW

CollectionsAsia, Prints and Drawings

ClassificationsPrints

DescriptionPossibly the right sheet of a triptych, 11.36715-7 (no virtual record).The title suggests that there may have been two triptychs, representing one six-fold screen with various pictures pasted to it.

Signed Igusa Kuniyoshi (top), Chôôrô Kuniyoshi (bottom)
井草国芳、朝櫻楼国芳

Marks Censors' seals: Mera, Murata
Blockcutter's mark: Horikô Fusajirô
改印：米良、村田
彫師：彫工房次郎

ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850–d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 19, 2005)

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.