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 rare print with title in a fishing net: Mitate nitaka kingyo, “A Parody of Goldfish with Actor’s Expressions.” The public would, of course, have recognised these actors, and Kuniyoshi and several pupils…
Click here to view image full size. The actor Nakamura Nakazo I as Prince Koreakira, younger brother of Emperor Go-Toba, in the play Gohiiki Kanjincho performed at the Nakamura Theatre, 1 This scene shows Nakazo as the evil prince about…
Click here to view image full size. A vertical diptych of a salt-water gatherer. These girls are often depicted in ukiyoe and seem to have held a fascination with the public akin to that for ama divers. Published by Jimpachi,…
Click here to view image full size. Three volumes complete Saishiki gasen,”A Selection of Coloured Drawings.” Of the utmost rarity and one of the technically most brilliant books using kappazuri ( stencil printing ), fuki-bokashi ( blown pictures whereby atomised…
Click here to view image full size. A rare surimono showing new year festivities before a large screen depicting Mount Fuji at sunset. A versatile and highly talented artist working in various mediums, Shunman produced (and cut and printed) some…
Click here to view image full size. An exceptionally rare surimono showing salt gatherers on a beach, their huts behind them and Mount Fuji towering over the horizon. Published c 1820s. I cannot, at the moment, locate another impression. Fine…
Click here to view image full size. No. 7 from a set of 12 prints: Joshoku kaiko tewazagusa, showing women engaged in the sericulture (silkworm) industry. This was traditionally the domain of women. The colour scheme is red-avoiding (murasaki-e) using…
Click here to view image full size. A beauty in sumptuous clothing from a fine set of seventy numbered prints with title: Sankai medetai zu, “Excellences of Mountain and Sea.” The set compares busts of beautiful women with various products…
Click here to view image full size. A beauty reading a program while a cat dozes beside her. From a fine set of seventy numbered prints with title: Sankai medetai zu, “Excellences of Mountain and Sea.” The set compares busts…
Click here to view image full size. Token Gonbei using a mirror to pluck his forehead (hitai). The style became known as Token hitai. From a set: Kuniyoshi moyo shofuda tsuki genkin otoko, “Men of Ready Money with True Labels…
Click here to view image full size. Sasai Kyuzo Masayasu (Sakai Kyuzo Narashige) enveloped in smoke and disintegrating before a volley of musketry at the battle of the Anegawa (1570). From the set Taiheiki yeiyuden, “Heroic Stories of the Taiheiki.…
Click here to view image full size. A poem by Onakatomi no Yoshinobu Ason from Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki, the “Hundred Poems explained by the Wet Nurse.” Published by Nishimuraya Eijudo and Iseya Eijudo c 1835 Although obviously intended…
Click here to view image full size. A poem by Kiyowara no Fukayabu from Hyakunin isshu uba ga etoki, the “Hundred Poems explained by the Wet Nurse.” Published by Nishimuraya Eijudo and Iseya Eijudo c 1835 Although obviously intended to…
Click here to view image full size. A surimono showing the kabuki actors, top right: Ichikawa Danjuro VII holding up a war banner decorated with a sasarindo (bamboo grass and gentian), the mon of the Minamoto clan and Iwai Hanshiro…
Click here to view image full size. The actor Nakamura Tomijuro I in an unidentified female role holding a biwa (a lute-like musical instrument) underarm. Surprisingly not listed in The Life And Works Of Katsukawa Shunsho, Frederick William Gookin, which…
Click here to view image full size. Akasaka kiribatake uchu sekikei, “Evening View of the Paulownia Plantation at Akasaka Under Rain.” This is the replacement design for Hiroshige I’s version Akasaka kiribatake for the Meisho Edo hyakkei, “One Hindred Views…
Click here to view image full size. An important two-fold screen, Yamatotakeruno mikoto at Mount Azuma. Yamatotakeru was the beautiful but fiery tempered third son of the Emperor Keikou (71B.C.-130 A.D.) He also had magical powers given to him by…
Click here to view image full size. An original painting, Hokosorori zu, showing Sorori Shinzaemon (at bottom) and Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598). Sororai was a sword sheath maker and otogishu to Hideyoshi (storyteller to attending provincial lords). “Sorori” means smooth and…
Click here to view image full size. The courtesan Hanaoka of the Sanomatsuya House in the Shin Yoshiwara looking out at the rain and holding a poem slip. Episode Amagoi from a Seven Komachi set: Shin Yoshiwara yugimi nana Komachi.…
Click here to view image full size. A bust portrait of the onnagata actor Nakamura Matsue III as the courtesan Akoya. A part he played at the Nakamura theatre, 9/1814, in the play Dannoura kabuto gunki, Battle Tale of Dannoura.”…
Click here to view image full size. A chuban print. No. 7 from Kaiko yashinai gusa, the occupation of silk worm cultivation. Shows girls watching the moths laying eggs on a piece of paper. No publisher given but published 1772.…
Click here to view image full size. The courtesan Handayu of Naka-Omiya seated at a writing desk attended by two accolytes. From a superb, large series: Hinagata wakanano hatsu moyo, “Models for Fashion: New Year Designs as Fresh as Young…
Click here to view image full size. An aiban showing the seated courtesan Somenosuke of Matsubaya reading a hand scroll. From the set Kakuchu bijin-kisoi, “Three Patron Saints of Poetry in the Gay Quarters.” Eisho was the most successful of…
Click here to view image full size. A chuban print showing two geisha, one seated with a loose yukata, the other standing beside her. Choka no sekisho, “The Afterglow of Late Summer” from an early set: Shiki hakkei, “Eight Scenes…
Click here to view image full size. A chuban print showing a beauty standing on a balcony adjusting a comb in her hair. She gazes at a ferry crossing the Sumida River in rain. One of a series with title…
Click here to view image full size. A chuban print entitled Yu, “Evening,” showing the courtesan Matsushita of Matsubaya with two acolytes. Koryusai was an ex samurai. Well known for excellent and rare kacho and some fine hashira-e. Published c…
Click here to view image full size. The centre sheet of a triptych: Sampuku –tsui, Yashiki fu, “A set of Three Prints in the Style of a Grand House.” Shows a young beauty holding a wooden box, a sprig of…
Click here to view image full size. A double okubi-e showing the sumo wrestler Tanikaze juxtaposed to the oiran Okita. A superb composition. Of the utmost rarity: Another impression is illustrated in V. & I., 1911, no. 231, pl. LI,…
Click here to view image full size. An elegant young entertainer beside her samisen box. Top left is a ballad that she presumably sang. While producing some mundane work, Choki also designed some of the most exquisite ukiyoe. Extremely rare:…
Click here to view image full size. “Looking Weighed-down: The Appearance of a Waitress at Fukagawa in the Tempo Era” ( 1830 – 1844 ). From the set: Thirty-two Aspects of Women published by Tsunashima Kamekichi, 1888. The waitress is…