Title
The twilight beauty (Chapter 4), from the series Playing cards of Murasaki Shikibu's Genji
1857
Artist
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Details
- Other Title
- Chapter 4 Evening faces
- Place where the work was made
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Japan
- Period
- Edo (Tokugawa) period 1615 - 1868 → Japan
- Date
- 1857
- Media category
- Materials used
- woodblock print; ink and colour on paper
- Dimensions
- 32.9 x 23.2 cm image; 33.5 x 23.4 cm sheet
- Signature & date
Signed l.l., in Japanese, black ink "[Baichôrô Kunisada ga]".
Not dated.- Credit
- Gift of G F Williams 1995
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 425.2001.1
- Copyright
- Artist information
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Utagawa Kunisada II
Works in the collection
- Share
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About
Using the best quality papers, ink and gold leaf, 'Playing cards of Murasaki Shikibu’s Genji' is considered to be Utagawa Kunisada II’s most successful series. Evoking the Heian-period court game of shell matching, 'kai awase', each print in this series is identified by two shells, one of which bears the title and the other a 'Genji-mon', a crest corresponding to a chapter of the Tale.
In this series, Kunisada II relies heavily on the Genji images that his teacher and father-in-law, Kunisada, created for the illustrated book series 'Nise Murasaki inaka Genji', instead of merely transposing conventional iconography into a modern setting.
Asian Art Department, AGNSW.
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Places
Where the work was made
Japan
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Exhibition history
Shown in 2 exhibitions
Genji - the world of the Shining Prince, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 12 Dec 2008–15 Feb 2009
Glorious, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 27 May 2017–06 Jan 2019
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Bibliography
Referenced in 1 publication
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Gary Hickey, Genji - the world of the Shining Prince, 'Genji in the 'Floating World' ', pgs. 30-41., Sydney, 2008, 40 (colour illus.), 41 (colour illus.). fig. 21. The colour illus. on page 41 is a detail of this work.
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