RARE c. 1792 Katsukawa Shun'ei JAPANESE Artist WOODBLOCK Print, ACTOR Danjuro V
There are only two other known examples of this image, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Both of those prints have Frank Lloyd Wright provenance.
Per the coloration on this example, I think it's a winter setting. The known provenance on this woodblock is: Davis & Long Company, NYC. Under a different name, Davis & Langdale Company, they're still in business. For just head and shoulders actor portraits. His work is very, very rare. 12 1/8 x 5 1/2" sheet size woodblock floated on paperboard in gilded frame measuring overall at 17 1/8 x 10 1/2", with gallery label verso. Not examined out of frame, which isn't in perfect shape. The print has discoloration, etc. But this is from the 1790's and we're lucky it even still exists.1762 - 13 December 1819 was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist. Shun'ei's real surname was Isoda?? , and his father was a landlord named Isoda Jirobei?? Shun'ei belonged to the Katsukawa school of artists; his earliest work dates to 1778.
He designed mainly yakusha-e portraits of kabuki actors, and began producing okubi-e bust portraits as early as 1791. He illustrated a seven-volume kabuki guide called Shibai kinmo zue ("Illustrated Guide to the Theatre"). He also made musha-e warrior prints and prints of sumo wrestlers. 1800 he took over as head from his teacher, Shunsho. His most prominent students were Katsukawa Shuntei [ja] and Katsukawa Shunsen. Shun'ei and several other artists, including Utamaro and Toyokuni, were jailed and manacled for 50 days in 1804 for producing prints depicting Toyotomi Hideyoshi based on the Ehon taikoki ("Illustrated Chronicles of the Regent").