JAPANESE ART > UKIYO-E WOODBLOCK PRINTS > TSUNEMASA AND THE WHITE DRAGON

Lot 00726
N.1 triptych of ukiyo-e woodblock prints

Toyohara Chikanobu

TSUNEMASA AND THE WHITE DRAGON

Year: 1897
Condition: signs of aging
Size: 72 x 35,5 cm

SOLD

Fascinating triptych of woodblock prints depicting a scene from the classic fourteenth-century Japanese epic Heike Monogatari (平家物語), that is "The Tale of Taira Family". The warrior and poet Taira no Tsunemasa (平経正), on pilgrimage to Tsukubusuma shrine (都久夫須麻神社), plays his lute as a form of offering to the deity of the sacred island of Chikubu (竹生島) who, deeply impressed by his music, appears to him in the night sky in the form of a white dragon.

The work, produced in September 1897 by the publisher Tsunajima Kamekichi (綱島亀吉), was made by the artist Toyohara Chikanobu (豊原周延), is titled "Tsunemasa, the Governor of Tajima Province" (但馬守経正) and is taken from the series "Pictoral Lessons of Japanese History" (日本歴史教訓画).

The prints on Japanese washi paper (和紙), have the right signs of aging as well as a thick ancient relining on the back.

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