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 triptych showing three bijin on the beach at Enoshima with title: Enoshima Benzaiten kaicho nagisa, which implies they are there to venerate Benten ( one of the Seven Lucky Gods ) whose shrine is at Enoshima. Published by Yamadaya Shobei, c1849. Very good impression and colour. Slight creases. Small edge repair, otherwise good condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Night snow at Kambara from the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido. The set published by Hoeido and Senkakudo c1833-4. Together with Shono, the masterpice from the set and widely reproduced. Good to very good impression with the red seals still crisp. Very good colour. Very slight centre fold only perceptible top and bottom otherwise very good condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Heavy rain and wind at Tatsuguchi in Bizen Province from Shokoku meisho hyakkei, the ‘One Hundred Views of Famous Places in the Provinces’. Published by Uoei, Monkey 2 ( 1860 ). The first edition and the only example I have ever seen of this fine design. Another example illustrated in Ukiyo-e Art, Number Eighteen, The Memorial Exhibition Of Hiroshige, The Japan Ukiyo-e Society, 1968, no. 23. Superb impression of first edition. Perfect colour. Light album backing and two small blue spots, otherwise fine condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Saijo in Iyo Province from the Famous Places in the Sixty-Odd Provinces. Published by Koshimuraya Heisuke, Hare 9 ( 1855 ). First edition. Superb impression of first edition. Perfect colour. Light album backing and two small blue spots, otherwise fine condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Kwannon Temple, Abumon in Bingo Province from the Famous Places in the Sixty-Odd Provinces. Published by Koshimuraya Heisuke, Ox 12 ( 1853 ). A variant first edition to Pulverer copy. One of the most beautiful designs from the set. Superb impression. Fine colour and condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Kameyama, yuki-bari, ‘Clear Weather after Snow’ from the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido. The set published by Hoeido and Senkakudo in 1834. This is the rare first state: before the blue sky block was replaced with another. Fine impression. Remargined on three sides but with black border intact. Otherwise very good condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. A triptych, ‘Moon’, from a series of ‘Snow, Moon, Flower’. ( The screen?s half-moon shape here representing the moon. ) Another nice touch are the shadows cast by the figures. Published by Dansendo 1848. One of Hiroshige’s best triptych designs. Extremely good early impression; fine colour. Full size. Very good condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Heavy wind and rain in Yamabushidani, Mimasaka Province from the Famous Places in the Sixty-Odd Provinces. Published by Koshimuraya Heisuke and dated Ox 12 (1853). The best design after the Whirlpool at Naruto. The very rare first edition. Very fine impression; fine colour. Minor backed edge wormage, otherwise fine condition. After this first edition there are numerous variant states. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Evening snow , Asukayama from the set: Eight Views of the Suburbs of Edo. Published by Kikakudo c 1837-8. One of Hiroshige’s earliest and finest sets. The first private issue of these prints (for the poet Taihaido) had three poems. This state has two. Extremely rare. Fine impression and colour. Slight centre fold and trimmed close. Extensive splashed gofun. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. The Whirlpool at Naruto, Awa Province, from the Famous Places in the Sixty-Odd Provinces. Published by Koshimuraya Heisuke and dated Hare 9 (1855). The best design from the set. Very good impression; good colour. Minor discoloration, otherwise very good condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Heavy snow with geisha in front of the torii in the Gion district of Kyoto. From the fine early set of ten prints: Famous Places in Kyoto, published by Eisendo c1835. The first edition of this set has the publisher’s mark and kiwame seal in blue in right margin. (There are also two first edition states of this design – one with gradation on the roofs. the other without. See Suzuki, Utagawa Hiroshige, nos 106) This impression, although the second edition, is still much sought after and rare. Very good impression and colour. Faint centre fold, otherwise fine condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. A mist scene showing Oyashiro Shinto Temple, Izumo Province from the Famous Places in the Sixty-Odd Provinces. Published by Koshimuraya Heisuke and dated Ox12 (1853) Good impression; very good colour. Minor marks on bottom margin, otherwise very good condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Poem by Fujiwara no Michinobu Ason ( 972-994 ) from the set Hyakunin isshu oba ga etoki, ‘The Hundred Poems Explained by the Wet Nurse’. Published by Nishimuraya Yohachi ( the first five ) and Ise Sanjiro ( as here ) the next twenty two, c late 1830s. This poem tells of a lover’s despair at having to part from his beloved at daybreak. Very fine impression of the first edition: On subsequent editions the characters on the lantern ( which read ‘Iseya’ ) beneath the kago are changed; the break top left of title cartouche shows strongly, and pigments are used which do not oxidise on the path and background. Very fine colour. Slight stain bottom right corner, otherwise fine. Signed Zen Hokusai manji. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Hira no bosetsu, ‘Evening Snow on Mount Hira’ from the first Omi Hakkei set published by Eisendo and Hoeido, c1834. One of Hiroshige’s best designs. Fine early impression with the mountain printed. Fine gradation and colour. On full size totally untrimmed paper. Near perfect condition. ( Later editions add green to the colour scheme: See E F Strange, Hiroshige, Cassell & Co, 1925, colour pl. op.p.172. ) Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. The great lantern at the Kinryuzan Temple, Asakusa, in snow. Asakusa Kinryuzan from The Hundred Views of Edo, Meisho Edo hyakkei. The set published by Uoya Eikichi with this design dated Ansei lll/7 (1856). This is the exceptionally rare first edition. The best way of discerning this (apart, obviously, from the quality of impression) is that only the first edition uses the vegetable pigment beni on the lantern and on the door to the left: All subsequent editions mixed in red lead to give a brighter colour (which usually oxidizes). (The temple still stands and looks not unlike Hiroshige’s depiction.) Fine impression and colour, with mica added. Very small expertly repaired wormage bottom right margin otherwise fine. Seals intact. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Joshu Ushibori from Fugaku sanju-rokkei, the “Thirty-Six views of Mount Fuji”. The set published by Eijudo c1829-33. Probably the most difficult design from the set to find in early impression. (There exist first printings entirely in blue, but they are extremely rare.) Very good early impression (blue outline) with very good colour. Slight centre fold, otherwise very good condition. Signed Zen Hokusai Iitsu ga Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. A rainy evening. Akasaka, Kiribataka. The substitute print for design 48 by Hiroshige I from “The One Hundred Views of Edo” published by Uoei between 1856 and 1859 (this being Sheep 6, 1859). A lovely design and superior to the print it replaced. Very good impression, colour and condition. Signed “The second” Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Early morning snow on Nihonbashi. The first design from Kisokaido rokujukyu-tsugi, “The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kiso Highway” published c1836 by Takeuchi and Hoeido. The extremely rare first edition with rising sun, publisher’s name on umbrella and signature: There are at least three later states of this design. Superb impression and colour. One very small backed wormhole, otherwise very fine condition with extra large margins and complete seal at left. Signed Eisen ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Beauties and snow on the Sumida River. The winter scene from a set of four triptychs of famous places in the four seasons. Published by Marujin, 1848-49. Considered to be Hiroshige’s finest design in this genre. Illustrated on covers of Eight Hundred Years Of Japanese Printmaking, Museum Of Art Carnegie Institute, 1977. Very good impression with perfect colour, Full size and matching. Original backing sheets, Fine condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. (There were some cracks in the blocks for this design and they appear on every known impression.) Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Tsuchiyama from The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido. The set published 1833-34 by Takenouchi Magohachi and Tsuruya Kiemon, Shows a daimyo’s procession crossing a stream in heavy rain. Very good early impression. Very good colour, Small paper flaw near left edge otherwise very good condition,. Signed Hiroshige ga Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Kambara, Station 16, from The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido, generally known as the Reisho Tokaido. Published c1850-51 by Maruya Seijiro. Extremely fine first edition with the deluxe red pigment in cartouche. Fine colour and condition with extra paper on right for publisher’s seal. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Hakone tochiba no zue, “Hakone Spa” from the set Honcho Meisho, “Views of Our Homeland”. An excessively rare set published by Fujihiko, c mid 1830s. I have never noted another impression of this design for sale. The complete set, which contains some of Hiroshige’s rarest masterpieces, is illustrated in Utagawa Hiroshige, Juzo Suzuki, nos 438 – 452. Fine impression, colour and condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. The Ina River Bridge, Nojiri from the series Kisokaido rokujukyu-tsugi, “The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kiso Highway”, published c.1836 by Takeuchi and Hoeido. Extremely rare first state of first edition of this fine design: Only the earliest edition has the geese above and beneath the bridge, the extra peaks in the same area and to the far top left. Also the signature is only found on earliest state. See Lane, Images from the Floating World, no.194 (A-B), p.190. Very good impression and colour. Very slight centrefold otherwise good condition. Signed Keisai ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Aki, Itsukushima Sairei-no zu. Aki is the old name for Hiroshima. The beautiful Torii of Itsukushima Shrine at Miyajima is considered to be one of the three best views in Japan. Published Ox12 (1853) by Koshimuraya Heisuke from the Famous Places in the Sixty-Odd Provinces. Fine, very early impression. Fine coloured and condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. The Urami Falls, Mt. Nikko, Shimotsuke Province, Shimotsuke, Nikkosan Urami no taki from the Famous Places in the Sixty-Odd Provinces. Published Ox 8 (1853) by Koshimuraya Heisuke. Fine, very early impression but not the earliest of all (see Pulverer impression). However, this is one of those cases where the earliest is not the preferred state: The Pulverer copy has the waterfall printed solid blue whereas this impression has the water blind-printed and the gradation on the side making for a more beautiful composition. Fine colour. Minor soil, otherwise very good condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. The temple compound if the Akiba Shrine, Ukiji, Ukiji Akiba no keidai, from The Hundred Views of Famous Spots in Edo. Published Snake 8 (1857) by Uoya Eikichi. Fine impression and colour. Minor mark au verso left margin, otherwise fine condition. This is the earliest edition with the break in the character “eight” in the date seal top margin. The figure sketching on the verandah, bottom left, is supposed to be Hiroshige. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. A chu-tanzaku showing a wild boar beside a waterfall. This was probably designed for a set of twelve zodiacal signs set. Other known prints from this group are: Ox, Dog, Hare, Tiger, Monkey and Horse. All are extremely rare. Indeed, I cannot locate another impression of this print. Published c 1830 by Fujihiro. Fine impression. Restored wormhole centre right and slight centre fold. Otherwise good condition. Signed Hiroshige ga. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. Evening with full moon and bats flying over irregular wood stacked in a timberyard. A well known print. One third block, 9.75 x 5 in; 25 x 12.5 cms. The only complete uncut example seems to be that illustrated in Four Hundred Ukiyoe Woodblock Prints From The Museum Of Art, Rhode Island School Of Design, 1990, no. 167, which shows the companion prints to be butterflies and wild grasses and tuna and white radish. Hiroshige designed another bat print, otherwise it?s a rare subject for ukiyoe. Ex collection Paul-Louis de la Noe, 1879-1919, ( an acquaintance of the Goncourt brothers, Bing and Hayashi ). Published c late 1830s. Fine impression. Very good colour and condition. Signed Hiroshige hitsu. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. A quarter-block, 6.5 x 4.25 in; 16.5 x 11 cms, print showing two tree sparrows flying in snow over snow-covered bushes. Published by Yamashiroya Kambei (?) c late 1840s. Ex collection Paul-Louis de la Noe, 1879-1919, ( an acquaintance of the Goncourt brothers, Bing and Hayashi ). Possibly unique. Very good impression, colour and condition. Signed Hiroshige hitsu. Status: Sold
Click here to view image full size. A quarter-block, 6.5 x 4.25 in; 16.5 x 11 cms, print showing a titmouse perched on a cherry blossom branch. Published c late 1830s. Ex collection Paul-Louis de la Noe, 1879-1919, ( an acquaintance of the Goncourt brothers, Bing and Hayashi ). Probably unique. Very good impression, colour and condition. Signed Hiroshige hitsu. Status: Sold