Framed Japanese “The Twelve Months” Oban by Toyokuni III – Ca 1850

A refined bijin-ga sheet from Toyokuni III’s celebrated series “The Twelve Months,” showing two elegantly dressed women enjoying spring hanami beneath flowering cherry boughs. Patterns are crisply registered – the indigo hemp-leaf of one kimono set against a grey brocade with thundercloud and key-fret motifs’ evoking the chic, urban taste of late Edo.

The print carries Toyokuni’s late-life signature “七十翁 豊国筆 (Shichijū-ō Toyokuni hitsu) – used after he turned seventy – together with the small rectangular publisher’s seal 「栄林堂製」(Eirindō) at the right and the vertical series cartouche 「十二月之内」(“The Twelve Months”). These details place the impression in the Ansei era, c. 1856-58. A classic single-sheet ōban composition by Edo’s most collected designer of beauties.

• Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni III (Kunisada I, 1786-1865)
• Series: Jūni tsuki no uchi (“The Twelve Months”) – spring hanami scene
• Date: c. 1856-58 (Ansei era)
• Publisher: Eirindō – seal 「栄林堂製」
• Signature: 七十翁 豊国筆 (Shichijū-ō Toyokuni hitsu)
• Format: Ōban tate-e; colour woodblock print (nishiki-e)
• Genre: Bijin-ga (pictures of beauties)
• Origin: Edo (Tokyo), Japan
• Materials: Pigments on washi
• Condition: Age-appropriate toning and minor handling; please see images.
• Print Size: 22.5 x 33 (wxh cms)

A graceful late-style Toyokuni III ōban from “The Twelve Months,” published by Eirindō and dated to the mid-1850s.