…; purchased from the dealer Kunsthandel Huys den Esch, Dodewaard, by J.H.W. Goslings (1943-2011), Epse, near Deventer, 1985;¹¹Coll. cat. Goslings 1999, p. 30, cat. no. 51 by whom donated to the museum, 1991

Object number: RP-P-1991-573

Credit line: Gift of J.H.W. Goslings, Epse

A samurai in a striped kimono, holding a helmet.

The man is the kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII in an unidentified role. Keyes²²Keyes, Roger S., The Art of Surimono. Privately Published Japanese Woodblock Prints and Books in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 2 vols. London: Sotheby’s Publications, 1985, Appendix, p. 240. illustrates what seems to be a design after the same performance - although the man is shown holding part of a suit of armour in the addition to the helmet - and identifies the man as Danjuro VII in the role of a townsman. Ichikawa Danjuro VII (1791-1859) acted under this name from XI/1800 to III/1832, when he adopted the name Ichikawa Ebizo V.

Three poems by Matsunoya Sononari, Mankan Takamori [if identical to the Mugimeshi Takamori in Kano³³Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 123. earlier Tojuen and Dokugakudo, a judge of the Gogawa], and Shinratei Manzo [II, 1762-1831, earlier Shichichin Manpo].⁴⁴Kano, Kaian (ed.), Kyoka jinmei jisho (Dictionary of Names of Kyoka Poets). Kyoto: Rinsen shoten, 1977 (1928), p. 216.

The poem by Sononari alludes to the crest of three rice-measures used by the Ichikawa-tradition of actors:
The offering stands are decorated with crayfish and we open the storied boxes of food - piled up like the Mimasumon and the sets of three sake cups.

The poem by Manzo reads:
Playing successful roles like the ancestors - that is the most beautiful essence of the New Year.

Issued by followers of the poet Shinratei Manzo
Signature reading: Gototei Kunisada ga

M. Forrer, Surimono in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Leiden 2013, no. 540

M. Forrer, 2013, 'Utagawa (I) Kunisada, A Samurai Holding a Helmet, Japan, c. 1821', in Surimono from the Goslings Collection in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200485449