Cleveland Museum of Art

Sanjo Kantaro as a Young Woman Standing in a Wisteria Arbor

Torii Kiyonobu I

Date

c. early or mid 1730s

Medium

color woodblock print

Culture

Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This rare, hand-colored print incorporates a technique called urushi-e, literally "lacquer picture," in which the artist paints deer glue over areas of black pigment, producing a lustrous effect reminiscent of lacquer. Metal filings were sometimes sprinkled onto the pigment for decorative effect. Kiyonobu’s prints are characteristically hand-colored and outlined in black. Inspired by a family tradition of painters of Kabuki posters, Kiyonobu created prints mainly of actors and scenes from plays.

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