Chushingura: Act VII (from the series Perspective Pictures for The Treasure House of Loyalty)

Chushingura: Act VII from the series Perspective Pictures for The Treasure House of Loyalty, a color woodblock print held by the Cleveland Museum of Art and dated to the 1790s, depicts the famous Ichirikiya teahouse scene from Act VII of Kanadehon Chushingura, in which the loyal retainer Yuranosuke feigns dissolution to mislead his enemies' spies. The Cleveland impression complements the Art Institute of Chicago's holdings of the same scene from Masayoshi's perspective series, and the two museum copies allow comparative study of color, condition, and state. The teahouse setting in the Gion pleasure quarter of Kyoto gave Masayoshi an ideal opportunity to apply uki-e perspectival recession to a deep, layered interior. The print balances the geometric severity of the architectural framework against the softer, more gestural treatment of the figures - courtesans, attendants, and the dissipated Yuranosuke himself - moving through the rooms. As one of Kanadehon Chushingura's most celebrated dramatic moments, Act VII has been illustrated by many ukiyo-e artists, and Masayoshi's perspective treatment ranks among the more architecturally ambitious. The Cleveland Museum of Art's holding strengthens the American museum record of Masayoshi's most important narrative print series.