JAPANESE ART > UKIYO-E WOODBLOCK PRINTS > EARLY FERNS

Lot 00671
N.1 ukiyo-e woodblock print

Utagawa Kunisada

EARLY FERNS

Year: 1853
Condition: very good
Size: 17,5 x 25 cm

SOLD

Precious polychrome woodblock print made by the famous artist Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) and inspired by the forty-eighth chapter, entitled "Early Ferns" (早蕨), of the Genji Monogatari (源氏物語). In the upper right inset we read a poetic composition by Shimoge Hashika Kasumi (下毛葉鹿花好): «Oh, Miyagino / famous for lespedeza. / With the first early ferns / is barely visible / the color of purple» (宮城野や / 萩のゆかりか / 初わらひ / はつかに見ゆる / むらさきの色).

The work was printed in May 1853 by the publisher Sanoya Kihei (佐野屋喜兵衛), owner of Kikakudo (喜鶴堂), and it is taken from the series "The Color Print Contest of a Modern Genji" (今源氏錦絵合).

The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the right signs of aging, is in overall very good condition.

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