# Shunsho Katsukawa artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/shunsho-katsukawa/
Profile generated: 2026-08-24T22:26:42.185Z
Quality: medium confidence, adequate sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: Japanese
- Movements: Ukiyo-e, Katsukawa school
- Common media: Woodblock prints, Painting

## About Shunsho Katsukawa

Shunsho Katsukawa, also recorded as Katsukawa Shunshō, was an eighteenth-century Japanese painter and printmaker associated with ukiyo-e and the Katsukawa school. Getty ULAN identifies him as a Japanese printmaker and painter born in 1726 and dying in 1792, while Wikidata gives 1793 as the death year. He is especially associated with yakusha-e—woodblock prints representing Kabuki actors—and is also connected with bijin-ga paintings of women. His actor imagery helped define the work for which the Katsukawa school became known, making his name relevant to collectors of Japanese prints, theatrical subjects, and Edo-period painting. Works encountered under his name may include individual actor portraits, other Kabuki-related compositions, and paintings rather than prints. Because several alternate names are recorded for the artist and works may also be described more broadly as Katsukawa-school productions, careful identity matching and object-level attribution remain important.

## Common works and media

Collectors may encounter woodblock prints depicting Kabuki actors, commonly categorized as yakusha-e, as well as Japanese paintings and bijin-ga subjects. Catalogue records can use the spelling Katsukawa Shunshō or other recorded names, while some objects may carry a broader Katsukawa-school attribution. The distinction between a print, a painting, and a school-attributed work should be preserved when selecting comparables.

## Market and appraisal context

Appraisal research for a work attributed to Shunsho Katsukawa should begin by identifying whether the object is a woodblock print or a painting and whether its subject belongs to his documented actor-print or bijin-ga practice. Attribution to Shunshō should be distinguished from a broader Katsukawa-school description, with recorded alternate names considered during catalogue research. When public auction evidence is available, the most useful comparisons are lots matched by object type, subject, attribution, sale date, and documented realized price. The collected source pack supports these categories but does not contain a successfully fetched major-auction-house lot record, so it does not justify a specific price estimate or claim about market direction.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine public artist-identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. Source conflicts and evidence gaps are retained rather than converted into unsupported conclusions.

## Sources

- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500118856
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1358636
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsukawa_Shunsh%C5%8D
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/shunsho-katsukawa/