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Hello everyone,

I’m looking for help identifying the painter of this ukiyo-e hanging scroll on silk.

From what I can read, the final part of the signature appears to say Kunihisa (國久). This matches both the last part of the signature, the first seal, and the text on the woman’s obi. However, the style and the likely date of the work don’t seem to align with the life dates or known styles of either Kunihisa I (active 1801-1818) or Kunihisa II (1832-1891).

The stylistic features definitely do not resemble the work of Kunihisa I. The painting actually resembles the style of Eisen, who died in the 1830s and, as far as I can find, neither Kunihisa I nor Kunihisa II studied under him.

At the moment, my best guess is that this could be an early work by Kunihisa II, but I’m not convinced. I was hoping for help identifying the first part of the signature, as I haven’t been able to match it to anything used by Kunihisa II. I’m wondering whether there might have been a lesser-known third Kunihisa, or possibly an artist active in the 1830s-50s who used the name temporarily.
Regarding condition: the piece shows age-consistent damage lifting pigments, darkened vermilion, and oxidised brass outlining where gold imitation was originally used.

The painting came in a box containing an invoice, a 1967 Japanese newspaper, and a handwritten biography of Kunihisa I, suggesting it was misattributed to him. A Japanese friend mentioned that the handwriting style on these materials seems to date to the Taishō period.

Of course, these accompanying documents are secondary sources and were clearly added sometime after the painting was sold in the mid-20th century.

Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Best,
Antonis

Here are some better-quality photos.

Dear Antonis,
With the very few materials to be found I would expect this to by Utagawa Kunihisa's signature.

On: https://ukiyo-e.org/search?q=utagawa+kunihisa
We find a few prints signed in the lower left corner like in your painting and the one print of a lady (https://ukiyo-e.org/image/artelino/29420g1) shows some details in the composition done and thought in the same way especially face and hair. But your scroll is the superior work.

With the two paintings kruml has on his webpage (http://www.japaneseprints-london.com/?s=kunihisa) Ichiunsai Kunihisa II has to be ruled out. Both works here should also be listed far behind your painting in regards to quality.

Best wishes, Peter

Dear Peter,
Thank you so much for your reply; I really appreciate the time you took researching this painting.

As you noted, there is very little material on both Kunihisa I and II online. Regarding Kruml's paintings, I believe the one with the tightly cropped beauty dressed in a similar kimono to my paintings is actually a Kunihisa I, based on the face and eye shape, along with the tight composition with large semi-cropped figures, which was popular in the early decades of the 1800s.

I am not ruling out the possibility of the first Kunihisa having painted this work. I feel that translating the first part of this painting's signature would help with attribution.

all the best,
Antonis

Dear Antonis,

I had another look and would establish the following references:

1. The big painting in the BM on silk
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_OA-0-374

2. The painting in the BMA on paper
https://collections.mfa.org/download/26418

3. The painting with Kruml on paper
http://www.japaneseprints-london.com/ukiyoe/images/ichiunsai-kunihisa-1832-1891-paintings-175a.jpg
This was righly pointed out by you. But the signature compared to N°1 is clinching it.

References 1 is the one to compare details of the painting to, as is on the same material and obviously the most distiguished work. For this details of hand and foot, fan on your painting would be helpful to discover some important simularities.

Reference 2 offers a signature that corresponds well to your painting. especially characters hisa and ga.

refernce 2 and reference 1 also offer both the detail of the naked foot. That was a detail I noticed in your painting first time seeing it, to find this in the 2 references as well probably puts a little smirk on my face.

Peter

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