Description
Beautiful polychrome woodblock print of vertical large oban (大判) format depicting the girl Yae (娘八重) who, as described in the play “A Song for the Great Soga Children” (一曲奏子宝曽我), will become the famous courtesan Segawa (瀬川) of the Matsubaya house (松葉屋) and which will be redeemed by the rich Toriyama Kengyo (鳥山撿校) for the considerable sum of 1,400 ryo (両).
The work, in which the character of the young woman is played by the actor Iwai Kumesaburo III (三代目岩井粂三郎), was made by the artist Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) and is taken from the series “Portraits from Hit Plays of Both Historical Stories and Modern Life” (時代世話当姿見).
The print, produced in September 1858 by the publisher Uoya Eikichi (魚屋栄吉) and by the carver Yokokawa Takejiro (横川竹二郎), despite the right signs of aging and the presence of small restorations on binding holes, is in overall very good condition, thanks also to an effective relining carried out on the back.
