Japanese Woodblock Prints
Japanese Woodblock Prints
The Property of an American Gentleman
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) | Awa Province: Naruto Whirlpools (Awa, Naruto no fuha) | Edo period, 19th century
Lot Closed
July 18, 01:30 PM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
The Property of an American Gentleman
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
Awa Province: Naruto Whirlpools (Awa, Naruto no fuha)
Edo period, 19th century
woodblock print, from the series Famous Places in the Sixty-odd Provinces (Rokujuyoshu meisho zue), signed Hiroshige hitsu (Brush of Hiroshige), censor’s seal aratame (examined), published by Koshimuraya Heisuke, 9th month 1855
Vertical oban: 35.8 x 24 cm., 14⅛ x 9½ in.
Around the vortex of a whirlpool in Naruto, Awa Province, waves tower and swell violently against rocky outcrops. Infamous for its tidal whirlpools, the narrow strait of Naruto is located between the island of Shikoku and Awaji connecting the Pacific Ocean with the Japanese Inland Sea. The planar composition has the swirling waters dominating the foreground. Plovers (chidori) above the distant mountain ridges suggest the spray of water released from the thrashing sea, an effect later repeated by Hiroshige in the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei).1
For another impression of the same print in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession number 21.9539, go to:
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/237157
For a further impression in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET), accession number JP1198, go to:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/60024867
1. Matthi Forrer, Hiroshige: Prints and Drawings, (London, 1997), no. 61.
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