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Ohara Koson (1877-1945)
A jay (Garrulus glandarius) sitting on the branch of an oak tree.
Signature and seal: Koson
Publisher: Akiyama Buemon (Kokkeidô), Tokyo
Date: c. 1900-1907
Original Japanese colour woodblock print. Size: Vertical Naga-Ôban, 50 x 21,7 cm (overall)
Excellent impression and colours, with some gofun white, on thick paper. Untrimmed, with margins in bottom and on right side. Well visible wood grain. Verso a little toned, at the right side along the margin a little bit lighter*. Verso in top two small paper strips from previous hinging. Overall very nice condition.
Early and very rare large-sized print. Illustrated in: The new wave, p. 122, no. 114. Reigle Newland/Perrée/Schaap, Crows, Cranes and Camellias, The natural world of Ohara Koson 1877-1945, Leiden/Boston 2010, p. 39, ill. cat. No. 7 and p. 180, K5.18. Cf. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Perrée Collection, No. RP-P-1999-582; cf. also Smithsonian, Muller Coll., S2003.8.1957. For these earliest woodblock prints by Koson, printed by the Tokyo publisher Akiyama Buemon (company name and seal Kokkeidô) in a harmonious, muted colour palette and in the highest quality, cf. Amy Reigle Newland in Crows, Cranes and Camellias, p. 18f and * ibid., p. 36 on the toning found in these prints, often with lighter margins: "The fact that many impressions are toned "is an unexplained feature".
€ 1.500,-