Japanese Woodblock Prints
Japanese Woodblock Prints
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) | Shono: Driving Rain (Shono, hakuu) | Edo period, 19th century
Lot Closed
March 23, 02:40 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 4,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
Shono: Driving Rain (Shono, hakuu)
Edo period, 19th century
woodblock print, from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi), also known as the First Tokaido or Great Tokaido, signed Hiroshige ga (Pictured by Hiroshige), published by Takenouchi Magohachi (Hoeido), circa 1833-34
Horizontal oban: 22.8 x 35.3 cm., 9 x 13⅞ in.
Near the town of Shono in the province of Ise, a sudden downpour causes travellers along the road to scatter in haste to shelter. A man on the right carries an umbrella playfully inscribed with the publisher’s name Takenouchi, and a part of the series title, Fifty-three Stations (gojusan tsugi). Following in the footsteps of a man cloaked in straw, bearers of a small palanquin carry a passenger shielded from the heavy shower. The silhouette of a bamboo grove in the background can be seen curving leftwards under the pressure of wind and rain.
For another impression of the same print in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET), accession number JP41, go to: