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Object Type
Museum number: 1906,1220,0.746
Title: Object: No 98, Ryogoku hanabi; Series: Meisho Edo Hyakkei
Description: Woodblock print. Rural landscape. Fireworks at Ryogoku. Bridge, boats, figures, night. 1 of 2 impressions.
Producer name
Production date: 1858 (eighth lunar month)
Production place: Made in: Japan
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Height: 35.50 centimetres; Width: 24.10 centimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: After the official opening of the river' (kawa-biraki) on the 28th day of the fifth month (mid-summer) there were regular firework displays over the Sumida River in Edo into the early autumn. Boats lit with lanterns have gathered near Ryogoku Bridge to enjoy the evening cool. The dark block for the night's sky has been carefully wiped to give a subtly gradated edge to the exploding firework. (Label copy, TTC 2000)
Bibliographic references: Binyon 1916 / A Catalogue of Japanese & Chinese Woodcuts Preserved in the Sub-Department of Oriental Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (485); Guth 1996 / Japanese Art of the Edo Period (fig. 76)
Location: Not on display
Exhibition history: Exhibited: 2000 26 Jun-24 Sep, London, BM, Japanese Galleries, 'Japan Time' 2007 Nov 28-2008 Jan 20, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK, 'Utagawa Hiroshige: The Moon Reflected' 2008 Mar 8-Apr 26, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, UK, 'Utagawa Hiroshige: The Moon Reflected' 2008 Oct-2009 Feb, BM Japanese Galleries, 'Japan from prehistory to present' 2014 Sep-Nov, Kyoto, National Museum of Modern Art, Whistler Retrospective 2014-15 Dec-Mar, Yokohama, Museum of Art, Whistler Retrospective
Subjects: landscape; fireworks/illuminations; boat/ship
Associated places: Topographic representation of: Ryogoku-bashi; Topographic representation of: Sumida-gawa
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1906
Department: Asia
Registration number: 1906,1220,0.746
Conservation: Treatment: 27 Feb 2014; Treatment: 15 Mar 2000

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