Chikanobu: The horse race at Ueno Shinobazu Chikanobu: The horse race at Ueno Shinobazu Chikanobu: The horse race at Ueno Shinobazu

 

Chikanobu: The horse race at Ueno Shinobazu
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Chikanobu: The horse race at Ueno Shinobazu
Move your mouse over image or click to enlarge
Chikanobu: The horse race at Ueno Shinobazu
Move your mouse over image or click to enlarge

Toyohara (Yôshû) Chikanobu (1838-1912)

The Meiji emperor and his entourage watching the spring horserace in Ueno Park, Tokyo. Displayed in the sky are beautiful daylight fireworks releasing lucky symbols and figures, entertaining the crowd.

Title: Ueno Shinobazu keiba no zu (A view of the horse race at Ueno Shinobazu)

Signature: Yôshû Chikanobu hitsu

Seal: Toshidama

Publisher: Fukuda Kumajirô (Gusokuya)

Date: 1885

Size: Oban triptych, 36 x 71,2 cm (image size)

Very good impression, fresh, vibrant colours, with employment of embossing, burnishing and metal pigment. The three sheets untrimmed, unbacked and separate. Some mostly small stains, partly due to printing; minimal soiling. Overall very attractive condition.
A depiction of the popular Ueno Park horse race, taking place from 1884 to 1892 twice a year - in spring and in summer – very often in the presence of the emperor. Remarkably vivid rendering of the jockeys riding their horses.

Cf. Bruce A. Coats, Chikanobu. Modernity and Nostalgia in Japanese Prints. Leiden, 2006, p. 78.
See also Metropolitan Museum of Art, No. JP3273; Edo-Tokyo Museum, Tokyo Digital Museum, No. 93200001; Library of Congress LC-USZC4-10933;.

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