Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849)
Woman in Heian period court dress holding a fan beside pine and plum trees, 1798
Woodblock print, surimono, embellished with metallic pigments and embossing
Signed: 'Sori ga' (Pictured by Sori)
Privately issued in 1798 (Kansei 10)
Signed: 'Sori ga' (Pictured by Sori)
Privately issued in 1798 (Kansei 10)
Horizontal kokonotsugiriban:
13.5 x 18.7 cm. (5 ¼ x 7 ⅜ in.)
13.5 x 18.7 cm. (5 ¼ x 7 ⅜ in.)
Fine impression and colour, good overall condition. Slight crease near top right corner and one tiny wormhole. The reverse with faint traces of adhesive at top edge and bottom corners.
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A court lady, formally dressed in a twelve-layered kimono stands in a garden holding a fan. Behind her are plum and pine trees. Like the following two surimono also by...
A court lady, formally dressed in a twelve-layered kimono stands in a garden holding a fan. Behind her are plum and pine trees. Like the following two surimono also by Hokusai and issued the same year of the horse (1798), this print bears the inscription at the far left "First Spring of the year of the Horse" (牛のはつ春), indicating these three surimono could be part of a series or set distributed by the same kyoka group from Asakusa. All three surimono also feature kyoka poems by Asakusa-an (Asakusa no Ichihito (1755-1821).
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
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
Dr. Gerhard Pulverer (b. 1930)Exhibitions
This print was exhibited in:'Masterpieces of Ukiyo-e from the Pulverer Collection' (Doitsu Puruvera korekushon ukiyo-e hanga meihinten), exhibited at the following venues:
Matsuzakaya Department Store, Osaka, 27th December 1990 - 8th January 1991
Matsuzakaya Department Store, Ginza, 24th - 29th January 1991
Publications
This print was published:- Narazaki Muneshige, ed., Hizo ukiyo-e taikan, Puruvera korekushon [Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in Western Collections: The Pulverer Collection] (Tokyo, 1990), no. 53 (black and white section).
- Doitsu Puruvera korekushon ukiyo-e hanga meihinten [Masterpieces of Ukiyo-e from the Pulverer Collection] (Tokyo, 1990), p. 64, no. 2-26.