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. A triptych showing the interior of a mansion. In the centre the head of the household, a young male, surrounded by his female attendants. This most likely shows the Setsubun – a ritual…
Click here to view image full size. Fuji kaeri no yudachi, “Sudden Shower on the Way Home.” Shows a beauty hunched under an umbrella against the rain. From a set of ten prints Tosei bijin awase, “Contest of Present-day Beauties.”…
Click here to view image full size. The courtesan Oi of the Ebiya smoking a pipe and admiring her reflection in a mirror. From a set Imayo onna kasen, sanjurokuban tsuzuki, “Thirty-six Modern Female Poets.” In the panel to the…
Click here to view image full size. An aizuri (blue) print from a set Tosei bijin hana-awase, “Beauties of the Latest Fashion Compared to the Beauty of Flowers.” In this case kikyo flowers – the Chinese bellflower. Aizuri prints were…
Click here to view image full size. Shows a couple caught in a downpour, the man shielding his companion with an umbrella. They are on the shore of Lake Biwa, northeast of Kyoto. In the distance can be seen the…
Click here to view image full size. An oban print with title: Ryukyujin no zu, “Pictures of People from Ryukyu.” (A chain of Japanese islands stretching southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan.) The Ryukyuans had a specific culture, one element of…
Click here to view image full size. The first sheet from one of Eizan’s most famous triptychs: Furyu yusuzumi san bijin, “Three Fashionable Beauties Cooling Off in the Evening.” Shows a teahouse waitress seated outside her establishment with silhouettes of…
Click here to view image full size. A triptych showing three women washing clothes in a stream from a set Six Tama [Jewel or Crystal] Rivers, this being the Chofu Crystal River (in fact the Tamagawa that flowed into Edo…
Click here to view image full size. The geisha Hinaogi of the Daikokuya preparing to play the koto. She is adjusting the tsume (plectra) on her fingers that were used to pluck the strings. The title is enigmatic: It reads…
Click here to view image full size. Four koban surimono-style prints from a set Hyakunin bijo, “One Hundred Beauties.” No publisher’s seal but published by Mikawaya Seiemon (who specialised in these prints), c late 1820s. Kunisada designed a number of…
Click here to view image full size. Three koban surimono-style prints from a set Imayo sanjurokkasen, “Thirty-six Selected Pictures.” Published c late 1820s. Fine impressions, colour and condition. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Mishima, or Toi, Province of Settsu. The best desigm from an exquisite set of six prints showing graceful young women, girls and, in two instances, young men representing the Six Crystal (Tama) Rivers.…
Click here to view image full size. Chobu, Province of Musashi from an exquisite set of six prints showing graceful young women, girls and, in two instances, young men representing the Six Crystal (Tama) Rivers. These streams were noted for…
Click here to view image full size. The courtesan Hitomoto of the Daimonjiya House, Daimonjiya uchi Hitomoto from a set Yukun gosekku, “Courtesans for the Five Festivals.” She stands beside a clothes rack with an elaborate costume patterned with 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. A large benizuri-e oban (16.75 x 12 in) showing a pair of lovers in the guise of komuso (medicant monks). They walk in high geta and have a black monk’s stole draped around…
Click here to view image full size. A triptych from a series Imayo mitate shi-no-ko-sho, “An Up-to-Date Parody of the Four Classes.” Here: Shokunin, “Artisans.” Shows the whole process of print production, albeit in reality women did not do this…
Click here to view image full size. A triptych showing three courtesans from the Tamaya House: On first sheet Koyuki playing the kokyu; on the second Hanamurasaki playing the koto; and on the third Hanakazura playing the shamisen. Published c…
Click here to view image full size. A triptych Furyu onna ryoushi, “Fashionable Fishing Women.” Shows beauties on the seashore collecting fish and loading them onto a boat for market. In the background, fishermen with nets. Published by Iwatoya Kisaburo…
Click here to view image full size. Furyu rokkasen, “Fashionable Six Poets.” One sheet from a set of three that can be viewed separately or as a triptych. Shows the famous Heian period waka poets Ono no Komachi and Ariwara…
Click here to view image full size. A parading courtesan, Senzan of the Choji-ya house, with her two kamuro, Isieji and Hanaji. From a set of seven prints Seiro moyo awase, “A Comparison of Patterns of the Green houses.” Published…
Click here to view image full size. Omoshiro-so: Bunsei nenkan okujochu no fuzoku, “Looking Amused: The Appearance of a High-ranking Maid in the Bunsei Era” ( 1818 – 1830 ). From the set: Thirty-two Aspects of Women published by Tsunashima…
Click here to view image full size. A triptych showing a bride changing into her going-away dress, Konrei iro-naoshi no zu. There is another triptych of the actual wedding ceremony which can be viewed with this to form a hexaptych…
Click here to view image full size. A very fine portrait of the actor Ichikawa Danjuro VI in kumadori make-up and assuming an aragoto stance. The quality, date, style and publisher are the same as for his finest set of…
Click here to view image full size. A fine actor design from a series of at least 31 such degatari prints ( showing singing or chanting at a theatre ). A scene from Shosa Hatsuhige yakko tanzen, played at the…
Click here to view image full size. An extremely rare yellow-ground aiban showing the actor Sawamura Sojuro III in the role of Nagoya Sanza in the play Keisei sanbon karakasa performed at the Miyako-za, 7 In fact Shun’ei designed another…
Click here to view image full size. Shows Iwai Hanshiro IV as the wet nurse Masaoka and Sawamura Tozo as the evil serving lady Yashio in the play Omiura date nebiki performed at the Nakamura-za, 2 Published by Eijudo. Light…
Click here to view image full size. A large head oban print of the actor Onoe Shogyoku in an unknown role from a rare set: Zen (?) kurabe nishiki utsushie, “A Comparison of Virtuous Pictures.” Published c1859. This is the…
Click here to view image full size. A beauty standing beside a circular window with wisteria and a swallow, both symbols of spring. From an aizuri-e set Tosei gonin bijo, “Fine Modern Beauties.” Published by Maruya Seijiro, c 1830-5. …
Click here to view image full size. An aizuri-e (blue print) showing the courtesan Hanaogi of the Ogi-ya House parading with her two kamuro. Published c 1840 by Enomotoya Kichibei. See my blog. Very good impression, colour and condition. (With…