Posted by Dan (24.58.4.235) on January 12, 2006 at 22:26:29:
In Reply to: Re: help me identify this print posted by Frédéric S. on January 12, 2006 at 22:03:06:
Hello Frederic,
The series title is in the red box at the top right, and then the subtitle in the yellow box beside it. I'm not sure how many were in the series.
The date is in the little white circle above the signature. It's actually a dated censor's seal. In this period, they added the character "aratame" (inspected) and then a numerical character for the month and the zodiac sign.
Almost everyone (myself included) would call this an ukiyo-e I think. (But of course it depends on how one defines ukiyo-e!) Yoshiiku is in an ukiyo-e lineage (the Utagawa line, student of Kuniyoshi) and this was a popular print made and sold in Edo. The style, late Utagawa, and subject matter, whether we characterize it as "genre scene" or "children at play" are typical of 19th century ukiyo-e.
As for the size, I think the print was originally an oban (approximately 37.5 x 25 cm) but it has been worked through the crepe process down to the smaller size you mentioned. Crepe prints were a novelty in late Edo and Meiji, and I believe many may have been made for sale as gifts to children, since the creping makes them hard to rip, crumple, or otherwise ruin through handling (also many crepe prints have subjects for, or in this case including, children.) Probably there is an oban version out there somewhere as well!