Japanese woodblock print of actor by Kunisada - 1840s

A beautiful original Japanese woodblock print of an actor by the well known artist Utagawa Kunisada (1786 - 1865) dating from the 1840s. Kunisada was the most popular, prolific and successful designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints in the 19th century. During his time his reputation far exceeded those of his contemporaries Hokusai, Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi. He was an incredibly important figure in the stylistic development of the Japanese woodblock print. To date 14,500 individual designs have been documented ranking him as one of the most prolific, innovative and important figures in the history of the Japanese woodblock print. The print is framed to a very high standard in a guilt gesso bamboo frame with pen work on the mount board. The print size is 14" x 9.5". The frame size is 16.5" x 21.5".