Posted by Richard Illing (80.46.222.127) on March 21, 2004 at 21:08:40:
In Reply to: Original Utamaro? posted by Uesugikenshin on March 21, 2004 at 14:16:55:
I doubt that anyone is going to give a categorical opinion from your scan but, on the face of it, it is quite possibly genuine. Those prints by Utamaro most likely to have been reproduced or faked are the better known images. I have been unable to find a published copy of this print. The series (Seiro bijin meika awase) is listed in Kiyoshi Shibui's Utamaro [Ukiyoe zuten No 13] p.96 but he could find only two from the set to illustrate. He dates them as rather late in Utamaro's career (he suggests the Kyowa era ie. 1801-3) and this would be supported by the hairstyles. You do not find the publisher's mark of Tsutaya because this print bears the publisher's mark of Iwatoya Kisaburo. I am very much more dubious of the authenticity of the two eBay images that you have posted so if the one that you are enquiring about emanates from the same source perhaps you should be very cautious.