Good condition. See Tokyo Metropolitan Library: http://archive.library.metro.tokyo.jp/da/detail?tilcod=0000000003-00011170 Selected Actors for the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac - Great design from Kunichika's series pairing actors with the animal signs of the zodiac. Each print features two portraits of actors in famous roles, set against a background with a tie-dyed textile pattern, diagonally divided into two bright colors. The expressive figures are wonderfully detailed, and some include deluxe treatments such as embossing and burnishing. Nice lively images with vibrant color. Author: Toyohara Kunichika (Japanese: 豊原 国周; 30 June 1835 – 1 July 1900) was a Japanese woodblock print artist. Talented as a child, at about thirteen he became a student of Tokyo's then-leading print maker, Utagawa Kunisada. His deep appreciation and knowledge of kabuki drama led to his production primarily of yakusha-e, which are woodblock prints of kabuki actors and scenes from popular plays of the time. An alcoholic and womanizer, Kunichika also portrayed women deemed beautiful (bijinga), contemporary social life, and a few landscapes and historical scenes. He worked successfully in the Edo period, and carried those traditions into the Meiji period. To his contemporaries and now to some modern art historians, this has been seen as a significant achievement during a transitional period of great social and political change in Japan's history.