Selection for the Seven Immortal Poets of the Pear Chamber

(Mitate Nashitsubo nana kasen no uchi, 見立梨壺七歌仙)

Publisher unknown

c. 1849-1853

 

This series of prints of beautiful women seems to refer to a group of Heian poets who lived in the tenth century.  However, there were only five “Gentlemen of the Pear Gardenˮ: Ônakatomi no Yoshinobu, Minamoto no Shitagô, Kiyohara no Motosuke, Sakanoue no Mochiki, and Ki no Tokibumi.  The series is not listed in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961). The prints are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban.

 

 

Description: A beauty seated on a bench, intently reading with pigeons around her

 

NOTE: The empty rectangle in the right lower corner probably indicates that this example was from a secondary publisher who removed the seal of the first publisher.

 

Description: Standing beauty with a dog

 

 

Description: Beauty holding a small animal, or possibly a doll

 

 

   “Robinson” indicates listing in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson, 1961, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

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