Ichikawa Danjūrō VII Preparing New Year's Gifts
The Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjūrō VII (1791–1859) is shown at home in everyday dress, preparing New Year’s gifts for his admirers. The gifts are cotton hand towels (tenugui) that have been folded into miniature workmen’s coats, each decorated with the three concentric squares (mimasu) of his family crest and the words Ichikawa and Kiba (a reference to the actor’s home in Fukagawa). It is likely that this surimono was designed while Danjūrō was performing in Osaka in 1830.
Artwork Details
- 歌川国貞画 浪花土産を作る七代目市川団十郎
- Title: Ichikawa Danjūrō VII Preparing New Year's Gifts
- Artist: Utagawa Kunisada (Japanese, 1786–1864)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: ca. 1830
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Woodblock print (surimono); ink, color and metallic pigments on paper; shikishiban
- Dimensions: Image: 8 1/4 × 7 1/4 in. (21 × 18.4 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of Dorothy Tapper Goldman, 2013
- Object Number: 2013.1126.2
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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