JAPANESE ART > UKIYO-E WOODBLOCK PRINTS > MAISAKA

Lot 00636
N.1 ukiyo-e woodblock print

Utagawa Hiroshige

MAISAKA

Year: 1852
Condition: good
Size: 16,5 x 23 cm

SOLD

Precious original woodblock print made by the artist Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重) and depicting Maisaka (舞坂), in today's Shizuoka Prefecture (静岡県). Maisaka was the thirtieth of the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido and was located on the eastern shores of Lake Hamana (浜名湖). Travelers crossed the lake to reach Arai (新居), the next station. Many visitors still come to the area, which is especially popular with fishermen and clam-diggers.

The print is taken from the "Fifty-three Stations [of the Tokaido]" (五十三次), a series better known as "Jinbutsu Tokaido" (人物東海道), that is the "Figure Tokaido", a title deriving from the fact that all the designs of the collection show the human figures not just as tiny decorations but as important elements in the foreground of each station.

The work, produced in 1852 by the publisher Murataya Ichigoro (村田屋市五郎), despite the patina of time is in good condition, thanks also to a relining carried out on the back with another sheet of Japanese washi paper (和紙).

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