5318 - 5509 FINE ARTS - JAPANESE PRINTS, DRAWINGS and ILLUSTRATED BOOKS, ORIENTAL ARTS
- Covers creased and (sl.) worn; modern string partly loosened.
= An interesting volume depicting a wide array of subjects, such as animals and plants, people from various origins and social backgrounds, people engaging in tea ceremony, I-Tjing, blades, coins, ikebana, various utensils, clothes and using an abacus.
- Frontcover w. later mounted strips of paper, worn away ticket and annots. in red and blue ink; later modern leaf tipped in on first leaf.
- Occasionally reinforced/ restored w. thin Japanese, particularly to replace lacking corners. Wr. creased and sl. worn; title-strip dam. and illegible.
= With unread title and signature, with seals (also unread).
= Scene showing the chief annual event at the Nigatsu-do hall in Nara, when the priests draw water from the sacred Wakasai Well to offer it before the altar and they pray to the Goddess of Mercy, the eleven-faced Kannon, for the welfare of the people and for a good harvest. During this ceremony young priests light 12 torches with which they draw imaginary circles of fire.
- Sl. soiled/ waterstained copy. Not examined outside frame. = Not in Pins.
- Both w. a few sm. wormholes and dam. spots.
- A few lvs. w. glue residue; a few sm. stains; occas. trifle soiled. Wr. (sl.) worn along edges; sl. wrinkled.
= A lovely volume of colourful and imaginative designs by Furuya Kôrin, an artist, illustrator and designer active in Meiji period Kyoto. He was heavily influenced by Ogata Kôrin (1658-1716) of the Rinpa school of painting, to the point where he adopted the name Kôrin and referred to himself as "Kôrin of the modern age". Collector's seal of P. Hoffmann, one of the founding members of the Wiener Werkstätte, on colophon page and backwr. Provenance: from the collection of goldsmith and jewelry designer Christa Ehrlich.
= Chaïkin 34, illustrated at p.142.
AND one other triptych showing a battle scene from the same war by WATANABE NOBUKAZU.
- With a very sm. blue spot on the figure's face, possibly a printing flaw. Otherwise a fine copy.
= About this series: The New Wave, p.157: "This collaborative series of c. 1924 included the contributions by eleven different artists on the customs and manners of beauties corresponding to the twelve months. It was published by Murakami, about whom little is known except for his issuing of this series." Hamada Josen, mostly known for his kuchi-e designs, designed both this print, as well as a print for the month of December. Rare. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LX.
- Trifle foxed in blank margins and some traces of paper tape in blank margin on verso.
= Brown 282. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LX.
= Brown 598, w. Heisei seal M in right blank margin. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LXI.
- All prints tipped onto mount at corners; partly trifle foxed; one print w. sm. vague waterstain on his left shoulder.
AND 1 other similar by the same (tipped together with one of the previous 5 prints on one mount).
- All lvs. tipped onto mount; trifle/ sl. soiled.
- With extended margins. Sm. closed pinholes in each corner.
- Trifle foxed in lower margin; sharp horizontal fold (printing flaw) in upper half. = Early 20th cent. edition.
AND 3 others (2x by the same), i.a. Kazusa Kurodo no ura (Kurodo Bay in Kazusa Province) (col. woodcut ôban, from the series Fuji sanjûrokkei (Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji) (col. woodcut ôban, signed Hiroshige ga, publ. Tsutaya Kichizô, 1858. Old vertical fold and thin vertical stripe on verso, both vaguely visible on recto) and KUNISADA, (Actor) (col. woodcut ôban, signed Gototei Kunisada-ga, publisher Nishimuraya Yohachi, w. kiwame-seal, 1830. Restored and doubled (closing wormholes and sm. dam. section in lower right corner; sl. faded).
- Good copy.
= Station no. 39 from the series Gojû-san tsugi meisho zue, "Famous sights of the fifty-three stations", also known as the Vertical Tôkaidô.
= Later restrike or impression from a recut block, probably early 20th century. Station 48 Seki, honjin hayadachi from the series Tôkaidô gojûsan tsugi no uchi (The Fifty-three Stations of the Tôkaidô Road).
- Margins cut short; fingersoiled; laid down on later paper (w. Japanese annotations on verso); lower corners w. paper remnants.
= Part of the series Rokuju-yo Shu Meisho Zue (Famous Places in the Sixty-odd Provinces).
Idem. Suruga, Miho no matsubara (Suraga Province: Miho pine grove). Col. woodcut ôban, signed Hiroshige ga, same publisher, 1853.
- Margins worn, paper occas. very thin; a few sm. wormholes.
- With a few lightly creased spots (unobtrusive), but otherwise a good copy.
= Station no. 46 from the series Gojû-san tsugi meisho zue, "Famous sights of the fifty-three stations", also known as the Vertical Tôkaidô. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LXI.