Dealing in fine Japanese prints, paintings and books since 1968
Dealing in fine Japanese prints, paintings and books since 1968
Click here to view image full size. Three bijin under Ryogoku Bridge on the Sumida River from a set of “The Four Seasons”, this being summer. Published by Iba-ya Sensaburo. Very good impression, colour and condition. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga.…
Click here to view image full size. Cooling off on the Sumida River. Published by Ebi-ya Rinnosuke c.1843-46. Very good impression and colour. Slight folds, otherwise very good. Signed Cho-o-ro Kuniyoshi ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. A rare nagaban series of full length bijin published by Kinrindo (Moriya Jihei) c.1835-37. Very good impression and colour; slight soil, otherwise good condition. Signed Kochoro Kunisada ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. 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”.…
Click here to view image full size. A young woman with straw hat. Ex Vever collection (see part 1, page 28, lot 29, 1974). Published by Urokugata-ya Hangen. Hosoban urushi-e. Minor marks, but good condition for a print of this…
Click here to view image full size. An unsigned chuban showing a seated courtesan with her two kamuro. One brings a letter while the other cleans her mistress’s tobacco pipe. Behind is a large kiri-mon on a noren. Published c.…
Click here to view image full size. An aizuri-e (blue print) showing a beauty bowing obsequiously with a cup of tea. Shi, “Samurai” from a set of the Four Estates: Shi, Samurai; No, Peasant; Ko, Artisan; Sho, Merchant. Published by…
Click here to view image full size. One of the great Ukiyo-e artists exemplifying what is called the classical school. He was a pupil of Kiyomitsu and was adopted by the Torii family, inheritating the estate, and was the last…
Click here to view image full size. An aiban showing a mother and daughter from a set Tosei fuzoku hakkei, “Eight Views of Manners of Today.” This design probably referring to Mother’s Day. Another from the set is illustrated in…
Click here to view image full size. A bust portrait of the courtesan Agemaki of the Miuraya House compared to the poet Fun’ya no Yasuhide, one of the Six Immortal Poets (and shown in the roundel above). Obviously a set…
Click here to view image full size. An aiban showing an elegant couple holding falcons. Takagari, Japanese falconry, is said – as so much else in Japan – to have come from China around the 4th century. A symbol of…
Click here to view image full size. A stone lantern strongly illuminating a beauty reading a missive from a set Tsuki no kage shinobiau yoru, “Secret Meetings by Moonlight.” Published by Yamamotoya Heikichi c. 1836-38 and is based on strong…
Click here to view image full size. A woman putting out a floor lamp from a set Tsuki no kage shinobiau yoru, “Secret Meetings by Moonlight.” Published by Yamamotoya Heikichi c. 1836-38 and is based on strong light sources shining…
Click here to view image full size. A triptych showing courtesans enjoying themselves on a balcony overlooking Tokyo bay. Furyu minami eki shiohi, “Fashionable South Station at Ebb Tide.” In fact, clam digging at low tide which can be seen…
Click here to view image full size. A vertical oban diptych showing the poetess Kagano Chiyo (1703-1775). The story relates how Chiyo goes to her well to draw water only to find that a morning-glory vine has overgrown her bucket.…
Click here to view image full size. The parading courtesan Yosooi of Matsubaya with her kamuro Tomeki and Nioi. Published by Nishimuraya Yohachi c. 1800. She must have been a popular courtesan as she is depicted on many prints by…
Click here to view image full size. 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…
Click here to view image full size. A high-ranking courtesan ( oiran ) looking over her shoulder. From a set of six prints: Bijin kaichu kagami – Jisei rokkassen: Ariwara no Narihira, “ A Pocket Mirror of Beauties – Six…
Click here to view image full size. A chuban print showing beauties sight-seeing on the Sumida River. From a set of ten prints of views of Koto (an area of Edo bounded by the Sumidagawa to the west and Arakawa…
Click here to view image full size. A chuban print from a set of three: Sanseki waka, “Three Evening Poems.” In this case interpreting a poem by Jakuren hoshi (1139-1202). The poem reads: Sabishisa wa / sono iro to shimo…
Click here to view image full size. A pillar print, hashira-e, of a beauty after a bath cooling herself with a fan. A cat looks up adoringly from below. Above her is a temple bell wind chime, often hung in…
Click here to view image full size. A chuban print from a set of five designs: Imoseyama gomai tsuzuki, “Imoseyama, a Set of Five Prints.” Shows two court beauties and an attendant. Based on the Bunraku play Imoseyama onna teikin,…
Click here to view image full size. A triptych, Shin Yoshiwara karitaku no zu, “Temporary Lodgings of the New Yoshiwara.” Shows the courtesans Shiratama, Masanagi, and Tamakazura of the Tamaya House before a latticed window overlooking the Ryogoku River. The…
Click here to view image full size. The courtesan Biso of the Ogi House holding a brush up to a snow sculpture of Daruma. Snow from a Snow, Moon, Flowers set: Seiro bijin setsugekka. Published by Kawaguchiya Uhei, c late…
Click here to view image full size. Winter from a set Furyu bijin kodakara awase, “Elegant Beauties and Precious Children.” Shows a beauty carrying one child and looking down at another with a large snowball. Published by Matsumura Yahei, c…
Click here to view image full size. Kemu-so: Kyowa nenkan naishitsu no fuzoku, “Looking Smoky:The Appearance of a Housewife of the Kyowa Era.” From the set: Thirty-Two Aspects of Women published by Tsunashima Kamekichi, 1888. Shows a housewife fanning a…
Click here to view image full size. One double-oban design from the most sumptuous album ever produced: Yoshiwara keisei: Shin bijin awase jihitsu kagami, “A Mirror of New Yoshiwara Courtesans with Samples of Their Calligraphy.” Published by Tsutaya Juzaburo, 1784.…
Click here to view image full size. An original painting by a rare pupil of Hosoda Eishi. He designed some fine bijin prints, including rare okubi-e. Shows a beauty in heavy snow with billowing trousers, a heavy straw cape and…
Click here to view image full size. The courtesan Shizuka of the Shizutama-ya from the set of six prints Seiro bijin rokkasen, “Six Poems on Yoshiwara Beauties as Flowers.” One of the most beautiful sets of this period. Published 1794…
Click here to view image full size. The parading courtesan Yosooi of Matsubaya with her kamuro Tomeki and Nioi. Not listed in Brandt. Published by Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudo) c 1800. She must have been a popular courtesan as she is…