Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) | The face of the actor Iwai Hanshiro V reflected in a mirror | Edo period, 19th century

Henri Vever (1854-1942)

Sotheby’s, London, Highly Important Japanese Prints, Illustrated Books, Drawings and Fan Paintings from the Henri Vever Collection: Part II , 26 March 1975, Lot 350 (part lot).

Pari Beberu korekushon ukiyo-e meisaku 300 senten (300 Masterpieces of Ukiyo-e Prints from the Vever Collection), exh. cat., (Tokyo, 1975), no. 34.

Jack Hillier, Japanese Prints and Drawings from the Vever Collection, vol. 3, (London, 1976), p. 834, no. 816.

Pari Beberu korekushon, ukiyo-e meisaku 300 senten (300 Masterpieces of Ukiyo-e from the Vever Collection), exhibited at the following venues: 

Keio Department Store, Tokyo, 4^th - 15^th January 1975

Hanshin Department Store, Osaka, 6^th - 18^th February 1975

Sogo Department Store, Hiroshima, 21^st - 26^th April 1975 

The is an egoyomi, or calendar print for the year 1823. The mirror on a stand reflects the face of the actor Iwai Hanshiro V (1776-1847) in an onnagata female role. Behind the mirror is a folding screen. This calendar print shows the long months by way of the gold genjimon, crests that represent the chapters of the Heian period classic Tale of Genji, at the bottom of the screen (1,3,7,9,11 and 12). The short months are shown in silver genjimon. Jack Hillier notes that this ‘disembodied head, surrounded by the cloth on the mirror mounting, produces an uncanny Magritte-like air of surrealism’.¹

1. Jack Hillier, Japanese Prints and Drawings from the Vever Collection, vol. 3, (London, 1976), p. 834, no. 816.

For an example of the only other known impression in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, RP-P-1958-480, go to:

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/search/objects?q=Kunisada&p=9&ps=12&st=Objects&ii=4#/RP-P-1958-480,100