Ohara Koson (1877-1945)
A couple of wild geese under the full moon, one is sleeping, the other calling. In the sky above the silhouettes of a flock of migrating wild geese.
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. Untrimmed, with margin at left side. Well visible wood grain. Verso slightly toned, a little bit lighter along right and left margins*. Two small light spots. Overall very nice condition.
Early and very rare large-sized print. Ill. Reigle Newland/Perrée/Schaap, Crows, Cranes and Camellias, The natural world of Ohara Koson 1877-1945, Leiden/Boston 2010, 183, K11.19. Cf. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Perrée Coll., No. RP-P-2000-350; cf. also Smithsonian, Muller Coll., S2003.8.1961.
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,-