Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 - 1858)
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 - 1858)
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 - 1858) / Utagawa Kunisada (1786 - 1865)
”Moonlight View of Tsukuda”
”Moonlight View From Balcony / Beauty on Balcony”
Color Woodcut
9 x 14 inches (sight)
18 5/8 x 24 inches (frame)
Signed low left
Purchased at Chicago Columbian Exposition 1893
Date: 1853
This phenomenally rare 19th century Japanese woodblock is entitled “Moonlight View of Tsukuda with Lady on a Balcony” from the series Fashionable Genji. Printed in 1853 this is image depicts a woman who had just been writing in her diary, seen open low center, now leaning on her balcony over the moonlit water. Resting in a vintage frame measuring 18 5/8 x 24 inches the woodblock measures at sight 9 x 14 inches. The print has been dry mounted to its backed board present with discoloring and wrinkling. As mentioned earlier this is a very rare woodblock with only three other examples that I could locate of which reside in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum, Weatherspoon Art Museum and the RISD Museum in Rhode Island. Stated provenance is that this was purchased in Chicago at the Columbian Exposition in 1893. Other woodblocks from the collection had retained typed cards verso as seen in the last image, this print had lost its card. The images provided accurately represent the quality, condition and aesthetic beauty of this fine print but if you have any questions please feel free to ask prior to purchasing!