JAPANESE AND KOREAN ART 23 march 2022

Kuniyoshi drew on multiple sources—both Japanese and
European—in conceiving this extraordinary work, perhaps starting
with an illustrated novella published nearly 40 years earlier that
featured armies of hundreds of skeletons; a later print by Hokusai,
as well as theatrical performances featuring model skeletons, may
also have inspired him. As with several other triptychs from this
phase in his career, Kuniyoshi chose to simplify things as much as
possible, featuring just one skeleton to unify the whole composition.
He is thought to have owned a collection of imported prints and the
confident anatomical authenticity of the specter likely owed much to
his study of Western medical illustration.
Reference
Timothy Clark, Kuniyoshi: From the Arthur R. Miller Collection,
exhibition catalogue, London, Royal Academy of Arts, 2009, cat. no.
25; Lawrence Smith and others, Japanese Art: Masterpieces in the
British Museum, London, 1990, p.221; other impressions: British
Museum, London, accession number 1915,0823,0.915-916; Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston, accession number 11.30468-70
The present lot has vivid, clear colors and like the example in the
British Museum retains patches of darker black on the skeleton’s
ribs, in the eye sockets and on the skull; this is considered to be a
feature of earlier impressions, along with the partially wiped strip of
black across the top of each sheet, not seen in later printings.
FINE JAPANESE AND KOREAN ART | 21