JAPANESE ART > UKIYO-E WOODBLOCK PRINTS > FERRY BOATS AT ARAI

Lot 00606
N.1 ukiyo-e woodblock print

Utagawa Hiroshige

FERRY BOATS AT ARAI

Year: 1855
Condition: good
Size: 24 x 35,5 cm

SOLD

Precious original woodblock print made by the artist Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重). The work, printed in July 1855 by the publisher Tsutaya Kichizo (蔦屋吉蔵), owner of Koeido (紅英堂), is entitled "Arai: Ferry Boats Arriving at the Checkpoint" (あら井 渡舟着岸御関所) and is taken from the "Famous Sights of the Fifty-three Stations" (五十三次名所図会), the series also known as "Vertical Tokaido".

The Arai station (新居宿), originally also indicated with the ideograms 荒江 and 荒井, was one of the checkpoints of the famous Tokaido road (東海道) and was located in today's Shizuoka Prefecture (静岡県) and, more precisely, on the western shores of Lake Hamana (浜名湖), which travelers to Edo (江戸) had to cross to reach the next station of Maisaka (舞阪宿).

The print, despite the presence of some signs of aging and in particular stains, is in overall good condition thanks also to a thin relining carried out on the back with a second sheet of Japanese washi paper (和紙).

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