Japanese Woodblock Prints
Japanese Woodblock Prints
The Property of a Private Collector
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) | Lower Meguro (Shimo-Meguro) | Edo period, 19th century
Lot Closed
March 23, 02:17 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 4,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
The Property of a Private Collector
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
Lower Meguro (Shimo-Meguro)
Edo period, 19th century
woodblock print, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei), signed Saki no Hokusai Iitsu hitsu (Brush of Iitsu, the former Hokusai), published by Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudo), circa 1830-31
Horizontal oban: 24.4 x 37 cm., 9⅝ x 14½ in.
Although now a bustling, central district of modern day Tokyo, Meguro was still a largely rural area in the 1830s outside of the capital of Edo. Thatched dwellings and bales of straw are partially veiled by the low sitting band of suyarigasumi [lit. spear mist] clouds. A farmer ascends a slope with a hoe resting on his shoulder, a mother holding the hand of her son carries a baby on her back, and two hawkers seem to converse next to a further farmer crouched beside them. In the distance, a snow-capped Mount Fuji is visible over the meandering pathway leading to the Fudo temple, almost half-hidden by a hillock.
For another impression in the collection of the British Museum, museum number 1937,0710,0.143, go to:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1937-0710-0-143