illustrated book;
album;
print
- Museum number
- 1979,0305,0.443
- Title
- Object: Hokusai shashin gafu 北斎写真画譜
- Description
-
Illustrated book. One volume, folding album. Woodblock-printed
- Production date
- 1814 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 25 centimetres
-
Width: 16 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- The album has seventeen openings, consisting of
a preface by the nativist scholar Kishimoto Yuzuru
(1788–1846), fifteen double-page, lightly coloured
pictures, and a colophon. The subjects of the pictures
vary, ranging from the deities Hotei and Kannon to
landscapes, flowers, birds and animals. Many are
drawn meticulously in formal brush style (shintai).
Among Hokusai’s illustrated books, this album is
appreciated for its distinctive style and high production
values, very different from Hokusai’s Sketches
(Hokusai manga, cats 164, 165). The last line of the preface
gives a date of Bunka 11 (1814), but the colophon in other
examples records the publisher as Tsuruya Kiemon and a date
of Bunsei 2 (1819). This copy lacks a colophon,
and it may be that it was published earlier and
privately – so as to avoid punishment by the authorities,
who in 1804 had prohibited the publication of luxurious
colour illustrations. Once the possibility of being
penalized had decreased, however, copies
could be issued openly, with the publisher’s name
and the date included. The iris was later reworked as
a single-sheet print (cat. 88) in the Large Flowers series
of about 1831–1832.
(adapted from Clark, ed., 2017, no. 89)
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1979
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1979,0305,0.443
- Additional IDs
-
Previous owner/ex-collection number: JH.443 (Hillier no.)