JAPANESE ART > UKIYO-E WOODBLOCK PRINTS > A GLIMPSE OF THE MOON

Lot 00683
N.1 ukiyo-e woodblock print

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

A GLIMPSE OF THE MOON

Year: 1886
Condition: signs of aging
Size: 24 x 34,5 cm

SOLD

The evil Ko no Moronao (高師直), visible in the upper left of the work, once he became aware of the extraordinary beauty of Kaoyo Gozen (顔世御前), wife of a shogunal officer, arranged to see the woman after a bath. Even though Kaoyo in that situation was without splendid robes and make-up, Moronao found her to be irresistible and, in an effort to take her for himself, he did not hesitate to organize a plot against her husband with which he wanted to put him out of play and which, however, turned out to be a huge calculation error that led to the death of Kaoyo as well.

The elegant woodblock print presented here, produced in September 1886 by the publisher Akiyama Buemon (秋山武右衛門), owner of Kokkeido (滑稽堂), is titled "A Glimpse of the Moon: Kaoyo" (垣間見の月 かほよ) and is taken from the series "One Hundred Aspects of the Moon" (都幾百姿) by the famous artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年).

The print shows a general and evident aging of the Japanese washi paper (和紙), as well as small holes and restorations on the margins.

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