Toshusai SHARAKU.Active around 1794Matsumoto Koshiro IV as the Fish Peddler Gorobei.Probably late 1880s or early 1890sPolychrome woodcut, 385x256 mm, (oban-tate-e). Print on thick laid paper, signed. Signature: “Toshusai Sharaku ga”. Without censor and the publisher's seals. Good condition.

The image is from 1794 but this print of ours on original Japanese paper is a 19th century edition. Gorobei is a fish peddler with a most conscientious and thoughtful disposition. His pose and his hand gesture, holding his pipe to his chin, are conventional Kabuki signs for characters immersed in thought. In this scene, Gorobei is planning his strategy for rescuing a friend in trouble. Gorobei is a fish merchant from the Sanya district, on the approach to the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter. He assists the sisters to discover the whereabouts of Shiga Daishichi, their father's murderer. A very similar print, in size, and with the only signature without censor seal kiwame and the publisher's seal “Tsutaya Jûzaburô” below, at the MET, dated “Probably late 1880s or early 1890s”. Not much is known about the woodblock print artist Toshusai Sharaku, who specialized in kabuki portraits. His career spanned only ten months from 1794 to 1795, with around 150 prints known. Unlike his contemporaries, Sharaku did not idealize his subjects, instead creating realistic portrayals that were not always flattering, and his prints were not a popular success at the time. His best works convey a rare perceptivity, with a psychological insight and a deep understanding of the dramatic nature of the roles and the actors he depicted. Sharaku left behind a body of masterworks of ukiyo-e kabuki portraiture that remained unrecognized until a century after his death.