Meiji prints
| Design: | Mizuno Toshikata (1866-1908) | |||||
| Print title and number: | 10 - Winter - A visit from a neighbor’s petty favorite | |||||
| Album/series title: | Mitsui Gonomi Miyako no Nishiki (Brocades of the capital. The seasons and their fashions.) | |||||
| Size: | 20.9 x 30.3 cm (ōban) | |||||
| Original woodblock print | ||||||
| Photography: | Jacques Commandeur |
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Special effects: silver metallic pigments on the river visible on the box panel against the back wall, on the needle being held by the lady, and on the pattern in the blue garment she is working on; burnishing (sho-men-zuri) on the black sewing kit on her right.
Artist’s name in lower left of the print:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 年 | toshi | year | |
| 方 | kata | person | Toshikata |
Followed by red 賞 (shō, award) and 雪 (setsu, snow) seals.
Series title in purple cartouche in right margin:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 三 | mitsu | three | |
| 井 | i | a well | |
| 好 | kono(mu) | like | |
| 都 | miyako | capital | |
| の | no | ’s | |
| に | ni | ||
| し | shi | Mitsui Gonomi - | |
| き | ki | brocade | Brocades of the capital |
Publisher’s address and name in bottom left margin:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 東 | tō | east | |
| 京 | kyō | capital | |
| 市 | shi | city | Tokyo city, |
| 日 | ni | sun | |
| 本 | hon | origin | |
| 橋 | hashi | bridge | |
| 区 | ku | district | Nihonbashi district, |
| 室 | muro | greenhouse | |
| 町 | machi | quarter | Muro quarter, |
| 三 | san | three | |
| 丁 | chō | house block | |
| 目 | me | count suffix | 3rd house block, |
| 九 | kyū | nine | |
| 番 | ban | number | |
| 地 | chi | earth, land | number 9, |
| 秋 | aki | autumn | |
| 山 | yama | mountain | Akiyama |
| 武 | bu | military | |
| 右 | u | right | |
| エ | ku | artisan | |
| 門 | mon | gate | Buemon |
Followed by red 滑稽堂 (Kokkeidō) publisher and 印刷山田 (insatsu Yamada, printing: Yamada) printer seals.
English series and print title in red in bottom margin reading: The seasons and their fashions. 10 - Winter - ‘A visit from a neighbor’s petty favorite’.
Followed by the text: Specially printed on the original designs by Mitsui.
References
- Narazaki, Muneshige, ed. (1990). Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in Western collections. The Robert O. Muller Collection. Tokyo: Kodansha International.
- Ōta Memorial Museum of Art (1993). Meiji Taishō bijin hangaten. (A woodblock print exhibition of Meiji-Taishō beauties.) Tokyo: Ōta Memorial Museum of Art.
- Stephens, Amy Reigle (1993). The New Wave: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection. London: Bamboo Publishing.
Provenance: White Fox Rare Books