Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849)
A New Year's Outing, 1797
Woodblock print, surimono
Signed: 'Sori ga' (Pictured by Sori)
Date inscription (丁巳) at upper left corresponding to 1797 (Kansei 9 [寛政九年])
Signed: 'Sori ga' (Pictured by Sori)
Date inscription (丁巳) at upper left corresponding to 1797 (Kansei 9 [寛政九年])
Horizontal kokonotsugiriban:
12.8 x 17.3 cm. (5 x 6 ¾ in.)
12.8 x 17.3 cm. (5 x 6 ¾ in.)
Fine impression and colour. The reverse with a few lightly discoloured areas, slightly showing through to the front at top right and bottom left corners. Very good condition overall.
£ 1,400.00
Two women walk beneath blossoming branches. The first woman is wearing her obi tied at the front indicating a courtesan, but at the same time wears an ageboshi hat worn...
Two women walk beneath blossoming branches. The first woman is wearing her obi tied at the front indicating a courtesan, but at the same time wears an ageboshi hat worn by a samurai's wife or affluent townswomen. She is accompanied by an attendant carrying a cloth-covered package.
The inscription at the far left reads "First Spring of the Snake" (丁巳はつ春) indicates this is a New Year's print from the 9th year of Kansei (1797), when Hokusai was still using the name Sori.
Dr. Gerhard Pulverer is a German medical researcher who worked at the University of Cologne. He bought his first Japanese woodblock prints in Kyoto in the 1970s while visiting Japan for a scientific conference. For more than thirty years, he and his wife Rosemarie travelled the world assembling a large collection woodblock prints and Japanese illustrated books (ehon). In forming the collection, he drew on the advice of highly regarded experts including Jack Hillier, C.H. Mitchell, Tim Clark and Ellis Tinios.
In 2007 the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC purchased the illustrated book collection. It is today regarded as one of the most outstanding and comprehensive collections of Japanese illustrated books outside Japan.
For an insightful interview with the collector by Ellis Tinios (on behalf of the Smithsonian National Museum of Art), go to: https://pulverer.si.edu/node/186
The inscription at the far left reads "First Spring of the Snake" (丁巳はつ春) indicates this is a New Year's print from the 9th year of Kansei (1797), when Hokusai was still using the name Sori.
Dr. Gerhard Pulverer is a German medical researcher who worked at the University of Cologne. He bought his first Japanese woodblock prints in Kyoto in the 1970s while visiting Japan for a scientific conference. For more than thirty years, he and his wife Rosemarie travelled the world assembling a large collection woodblock prints and Japanese illustrated books (ehon). In forming the collection, he drew on the advice of highly regarded experts including Jack Hillier, C.H. Mitchell, Tim Clark and Ellis Tinios.
In 2007 the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC purchased the illustrated book collection. It is today regarded as one of the most outstanding and comprehensive collections of Japanese illustrated books outside Japan.
For an insightful interview with the collector by Ellis Tinios (on behalf of the Smithsonian National Museum of Art), go to: https://pulverer.si.edu/node/186
Provenance
Hayashi Tadamasa (1853-1906)Dr. Gerhard Pulverer (b. 1930)
Publications
This print is published:Narazaki Muneshige, ed., Hizo ukiyo-e taikan, Puruvera korekushon [Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in Western Collections: The Pulverer Collection] (Tokyo, 1990), colour pl. no. 89.