Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849)
Young traveller with a horse, 1798
Woodblock print, surimono
Signed: 'Sori ga' (Pictured by Sori)
Privately issued in 1798
Signed: 'Sori ga' (Pictured by Sori)
Privately issued in 1798
Horizontal kokonotsugiriban:
14 x 18.7 cm. (5 ½ x 7 ⅜ in.)
14 x 18.7 cm. (5 ½ x 7 ⅜ in.)
Fine impression and colour, very minor soiling in a few small places, slight trimming to bottom edge, the reverse with faint traces of adhesive at edges and remnants of mounting tape at top corners. Good overall condition.
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A young man leads a packhorse laden with several chests of gold coins under two pine trees. The chests of gold coins are auspicious symbols of wealth and the presence...
A young man leads a packhorse laden with several chests of gold coins under two pine trees. The chests of gold coins are auspicious symbols of wealth and the presence of a plum branch and a shimenawa rope on the horse's belly indicate that this is also a New Year's print.
Like the previous two surimono also by Hokusai also 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
Like the previous two surimono also by Hokusai also 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
Provenance
Hayashi Tadamasa (1853-1906)Dr. Gerhard Pulverer (b. 1930)
Exhibitions
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 is published:- Narazaki Muneshige, ed., Hizo ukiyo-e taikan, Puruvera korekushon [Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in Western Collections: The Pulverer Collection] (Tokyo, 1990), no. 88.
- Doitsu Puruvera korekushon ukiyo-e hanga meihinten [Masterpieces of Ukiyo-e from the Pulverer Collection] (Tokyo, 1990), p. 65, no. 2-27.