Japanese Woodblock Prints
Japanese Woodblock Prints
Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) | Zojo-ji Temple in Shiba (Shiba Zojoji) | Taisho period, early 20th century
Lot Closed
December 19, 02:28 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 10,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Kawase Hasui (1883-1957)
Zojo-ji Temple in Shiba (Shiba Zojoji)
Taisho period, early 20th century
woodblock print, from the series Twenty Views of Tokyo (Tokyo nijukei), signed Hasui, sealed Kawase, titled in the left margin as above, publisher's mark (Hotei 'E', circa 1931-41) to lower right margin Hanken shoyu fukyo mosha Watanabe Shozaburo [copyright reserved, reproduction not permitted, Watanabe Shozaburo], dated Taisho juyonen saku (made in 1925)
Vertical oban: 38.2 x 26.1 cm., 15 x 10¼ in.
One of Hasui's most celebrated designs, depicting the vermillion gate of the Zojo-ji Temple in Shiba. A woman walks against the gale of a blizzard, her umbrella partially closed in the snowstorm. She passes before the main gate of the Sangedatsumon, the oldest wooden building in Tokyo, constructed circa 1622. Narazaki Muneshige comments on the design: 'This is a masterpiece within Hasui's oeuvre, and no other by him has received so much praise'.1
1. Translated and quoted in Kendall Brown, Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints, (The Netherlands, 2003), p. 74, no. 147.
Further impressions of the same print are in numerous museum collections, including:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, (The MET), accession number 1997.255, go to:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/39587
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession number 49.124:
The Edo Tokyo Museum, object number 90203125: