Zeshin: Hagoita
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Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891)

A New Year still life. An ornate Tosa style painted Hagoita – the badminton racket for hanetsuki, the festive shuttlecock game played on New Year’s day -  with a shuttlecock and a twig with the first plum blossoms of the year.

Signature: Zeshin. Seal: Tairûkyo

Publisher: Matsuki Heikichi (Daikokuya), Tokyo

Date: 1880s

Original Japanese colour woodblock print. Size: Shikishiban, 24,1 x 25 cm (overall)

Excellent early impression, excellent colours, with metal pigment (slightly oxidized). Untrimmed and unbacked. In the bottom right corner tiny dog-ear, otherwise excellent and crisp condition. A rarely seen print.
Ill. in Milne Henderson, Zeshin & Related Artists, London, n.d. (1978), no. 12.
Cf. also British Museum, no. 2019,3035.7.

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