Utagawa Toyoharu was a prolific artist known for rendering the splendor of the Edo period. This present lot pictures a female version of the Shikisanban dance—a ritual performance for peace and a bountiful harvest oftentimes in performed in noh theatre. The dance features three archetypal characters and is usually reserved for masked male performers (see lot 257 in the present auction). However, Toyoharu’s scroll here depicts an alternative context: a gender-swapped show inside a pleasure house.

As such, this work might better be described through bijin-ga, a genre capturing the fashion, ideal physical features, and lives of graceful women. Indeed, the figures are dressed in decadent ensembles. They don robes embroidered with animal motifs and intricate patterns, which Toyoharu has finely detailed in paint.

Further, the scroll features a layered composition where the back dancer is eclipsed, creating a sense of depth. Toyoharu was known for introducing the western principles of perspectival painting, uki-e, into the floating world of traditional Japanese art. His innovative style led him to form the Utagawa school, of which artists such as Hiroshige and Hokusai were students. A comparable work the second head of the school and Toyoharu’s immediate follower, Utagawa Toyokuni, is held in the collection at the MFA in Boston (https://collections.mfa.org/objects/211093). All in all, the present lot exemplifies Toyoharu’s artistic influence, not only as a lyrical depiction of performance but also a pioneering example of perspectival composition.