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A fine chuban from a series parodying the Seven Gods of Good Fortune, this being Daikoku, the god of wealth, seen here attempting to stand on one of his straw bales of rice. The famous waitress Kasamori O-sen (1751-1827) stands holding a battledore on New Year’s Day while her companion balances on Daikoku’s shoulders attempting to retrieve the shuttlecock caught in the kado-matsu decorations using her own battledore. The lantern on the right reads Kagi-ya, which was a tea-house located by the Kasamori Inari Shrine in Yanaka, north of Edo, which was owned by O-sen’s father and where she was the waitress. Considered to be one of “The Three Beauties” of her time. (Given the date of the print, she must have been around 18 when shown here.) The Torii gate is seen on the left. The poem above speaks of a New Year’s fresh gem [O-Sen] and how the trees and grasses bend to her. Published c. 1769.

Fine impression: As with many Harunobu, the lines are in relief because of the thick hosho. Exceptional colour: Even the vegetable blue used for the paving stones leading to the temple have not turned except at the extreme left and right. This was a colour used frequently by Harunobu to depict water but is almost always faded to a puce colour. Minimal soil, otherwise a fine example from this period. Signed Harunobu ga.

Status: Sold

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A chuban showing the courtesan Matsukaze of the Ogi-ya House from a set of prints: Ukiyo kika, “Strange Flowers of the Floating World.” Shows the courtesan parading outside a Yoshiwara house with her two kamuro. One of the most influential ukiyo-e artists taking full advantage of polychrome printing in 1765 and publishing a large number of exquisite prints, often with innovative pigments and on thick hosho. Published c late 1760s. Another impression in Yoshida, Harunobu zenshu, p. 128.

Fine impression. Slight fading otherwise very good condition. Signed Harunobu ga.

Status: Sold

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The left sheet of a rare diptych which was originally produced as an egoyomi (picture calendar) in 1766. A mitate (parody) of Chapter 4, Yugao, from the Genji Monogatari, “Tale of Genji.” This chapter relates how a mysterious beauty living in a mansion covered in vines with flowering yugao blossom (shown here covering the fence) enraptures Genji and they consummate their passion in a remote villa. However, one of Genji’s former lovers discovers the tryst and takes the life of “Yugao.” The right sheet shows a fashionably dressed young wakashu and a boy holding a miniature ox cart cricket cage. Other impressions in: Margaret O. Gentles, The Clarence Buckingham Collection, volume II, AIC, 1965, p. 26, no. 44; Tokyo National Museum, acc. no. A-10569_1274 (diptych) (inv. No. 10-5006); David Waterhouse, The Harunobu Decade, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2013, vol. 1, pp. 88-89, cat. No. 100, acc. nos. 54.348-9 (diptych) and 21.4969 (left sheet); and Ukiyo-e Shuka, vol. 8, 1980, listed p. 116, no. 114. Rare.

Fine impression with the woodgrain showing strongly in the background as though it were blind-printed. Very good colour and condition.

Status: Sold

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Two couples in a brothel. The young man near the entrance seems in need of a lot of encouragement. The name written on the left of the entrance is Sumiyoshi. A chuban yokoe design published c 1769-70. Another impression is in ROM, 926.18.121.

Very good impression and colour. Minimal soil, otherwise good condition. Signed Suzuki Harunobu ga on the rear screen.

Status: Sold

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A chuban print of a young girl beside a stream. A poem above, by Ono no Komachi, compares her thoughts to a floating reed. One of a series based on “The Thirty-six Poets”. Another impression illustrated in the Philadelphia Musuem of Art catalogue Suzuki Harunobu, 1970, p.141, no.79. Published c.1767/8.

Superb impression with the girl’s outline and garment folds in heavy relief. Fine colour with only the water slightly down. Signed Harunobu ga.

Status: Sold

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A pillar print showing a beauty after a bath walking past a pot of morning glory. Published c. 1768. The morning glory is a precursor of hot summer. Some 40 or 50 years later there was a craze for these plants almost akin to Dutch tulip fever. Other (faded) impressions are in MFA, Boston, Spaulding Collection, nr. 21.4552; Honolulu Museum of Art, nr. 06108; and illustrated in Waterhouse, The Harunobu Decade, 20013, nr. 545. Harunobu produced some of the most sublime Ukiyo-e images and he and his publishers were at the forefront of experimentation in the 1760s using multiple blocks, new pigments and combing pigments to create new hues that were not see again in Ukiyo-e. Unfortunately, the pigments – most often of vegetable origin – were very susceptible to fading and most Harunobu prints are ghosts of their former selves. Harunobu was a master of this hashira-e format: Jacob Pins found 111 to illustrate in The Japanese Pillar Print, 1982. Rare.

Fine impression. Exceptionally good colour. Minor soil but in very good condition for a print in this format and of this period. (These prints were hung in alcoves or on pillars and they consequently often come browned or faded as well as getting creased by being rolled.) Signed Harunobu ga.

Status: Sold

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A beautiful composition of a courtesan emerging from a mosquito net. Published c 1760’s. Ex collection Hayashi. Rare: not in Pins or Yoshida.

Very good impression and colour. Very slight soil but in very good condition for a pillar print of this period. Signed Harunobu ga..

Status: Sold