Bihô (aka Yoshikuni) (act. c. 1900-1910)
A white rooster and a black hen.
Signature and seal: Bihô (variant reading: Yoshikuni)
Publisher: (Matsuki Heikichi - Daikokuya, Tokyo)
Date: c. 1900-1910
Original Japanese colour woodblock print. Size: Shikishiban, 23,9 x 24,9 cm (overall)
Excellent impression and colours, with embossing and gofun white. Early impression, the red of the rooster’s comb and wattles finely gradated. Verso and laterally slightly age-toned, upper left margin minimally uneven. Overall very good condition.
Cf. Japanische Kleinkunst, Elberfeld, n.d. (c. 1900), SLUB Dresden, Sig. 92054306.
A small number of lovely bird and flower prints (kachô-e) and some triptychs illustrating scenes from the Russo-Japanese war (1904/05) are bearing this same signature, which can be read as either Bihô or Yoshikuni. They are variously attributed to Takahashi or Hirose Bihô (b. 1873), or Hirose/Nomura/Ôkura Yoshikuni. Cf. Merritt/Yamada, p. 15; MAK Vienna, Brooklyn Museum, Five Colleges Collection, British Museum, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Smithsonian, etc.
€ 580,-