Teisai Senchō (貞斎泉晁) (artist )
The oiran Ogura from the Owari house (尾張屋内尾倉登) accompanied by two kamuro - from an untitled series
ca 1832 – 1836
10 in x 14.375 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signed: ōju (by special request) Teisai Senchō
應需貞斎泉晁
Publisher: Tsutaya Kichizō
(Marks 556 - seal 23-059)
Censor's seal: kiwame
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Waseda University
Ritsumeikan University - attributed to Kunisada
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Miyoharu of the Wakamatsuya, another print from this series
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Hanateru of the Wakamatsuya, another print from this series
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Nagato of the Owariya, another print from this series
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Nagao of the Owariya, another print from this series
National Diet Library - there are four prints from this series including this one - all unsigned and this one is said to be by Toyokuni III
Museum of Fine Arts Boston - Nanaoka of the Sugata-Ebiya The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston say that the courtesan in their copy is possibly a woman named Okurato.
****
This print is trimmed at the bottom. We mention this because only the top 80% or so of the publisher's seal is visible.
****
There are this and two other prints from this series in the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art and three others at Ritsumeikan University. None of them signed and all assigned to Kunisada.
****
There is a very interesting copy of this print in the collection of Ritsumeikan University, but the signature is missing. Not only that, but they have mistakenly attributed it to Kunisada. (See the link above.)
****
Other major artists portrayed high-classed courtesans from this brothel. Eisen portrayed Hachijō, Katsumi and Kichō in the early 1820s. While Senchō also portrayed Naganobori from this same house.
****
There are two other prints from this series illustrated in black and white in Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collections: Victoria and Albert Museum I, vol. 4, 1989, figs. 122-3. These represent Mitsusode of the Owariya and Nanaoka of the Sugataebiya.
Tsutaya Kichizō (蔦屋吉蔵) (publisher)
beautiful women (bijin-ga - 美人画) (genre)