Hiroshige II: Hongô Road
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Utagawa Hiroshige II (1826-1869)

A group of women and men gather around a porter carrying a young flowering cherry tree and a small pine tree, possibly on the way to the garden of the mansion of the Maeda clan, daimyô of Kaga province, which can be seen in the background.

The big entrance gate to this mansion, the famous Akamon - or red gate-, today on the grounds of Tokyo University, was erected in 1827 to celebrate the marriage of Maeda Nariyasu to Yasuhime (or Yôhime), daughter of the Shôgun Tokugawa Ienari.

Title: Hongô-dôri (Hongô Road)

Series: Tôto sanjûrokkei (Thirty-six views of the Eastern Capital, i.e. Edo)

Signature: Hiroshige ga

Publisher: Sagamiya Tôkichi (Aito), Edo

Censor/Date: Aratame/3rd month 1862

Original Japanese colour woodblock print. Size: Vertical Ôban, 34.2 x 22.5 cm (image)

Very good impression and colours. Unbacked, good margins. Some small light spots in the sky and two faint brown stains, a paper fibre at right side. Margins a tiny bit soiled and creased. Verso in top corners paper remnants from previous attachment. Overall very good condition.

Cf. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, 1963.30.5236; Honolulu Museum of Art, Michener Coll., 22857; Harvard Art Museums, 1933.4.60.

€ 620,-