Fine Japanese Prints
Fine Japanese Prints
A Collection of Surimono
Ryuryukyo Shinsai (active circa 1799-1823) | White (Shiro) | Edo period, 19th century
Lot Closed
December 14, 01:35 PM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
A Collection of Surimono
Ryuryukyo Shinsai (active circa 1799-1823)
White (Shiro)
Edo period, 19th century
woodblock print, surimono, embellished with metallic pigments and embossing, from the series Five Colours (Goshiki no uchi), signed Shinsai, privately issued circa 1820, depicting a woman and a child playing in the snow before a blossoming branch of plum, poems by Kazanro and Shakuyakutei
Surimono shikishiban: 21.3 x 18.7 cm., 8⅜ x 7⅜ in.
The poems by Kanzaro and Shakuyakutei have been translated by John T. Carpenter in Joan B. Mirviss, The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono, (New York, 1995), p. 150:
A sprig of plum
blossoms peeping out
from the snow
serves as a guidepost
to the presence of spring
yuki no uchi ni
suwae no nozoku
ume no hana
haru no shirushi
sao to koso mire
Because spring is near
as soon as I fling
snowballs at you,
they melt before covering
the designs of your robe
uchitsukuru
soba yori haru no
yuki tsubute
tokete sonata no
mon wa kakurezu
For two different designs from the same series in the collection of the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde, Leiden), go to:
Black (Kuro): https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/605694
Red (Aka): https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11840/605695
For impressions of Yellow (Ki) and Blue (Ao), see Roger Keyes, The Art of Surimono: Privately Published Japanese Woodblock Prints and Books in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, (London, 1985), pls. 298 and 299.