Lot 198: UTAGAWA TOYOHARU (1735-1814), AN ALBUM CONTAINING TEN 'UKIE' (PERSPECTIVE) PICTURES

UTAGAWA TOYOHARU (1735-1814), AN ALBUM CONTAINING TEN 'UKIE' (PERSPECTIVE) PICTURES
oban yoko-e, 'Wakoku no keiseki Yoritomo ko Fuji makigari no zu' (Lord Minamoto no Yoritomo hunting at Mt.Fuji), published by Eijudo Nishimuraya (Yohachi), a night festival at Ryogoku Bridge, Winter in Holland, market traders in a district of Edo, a group of ladies playing musical instruments in a pavilion, a Kubuki theatre interior, fireworks over Ryogoku Bridge, a Festival at Ise Shrine, the Shichi-fuku-jin and the Ponte Vecchio over the River Arno in Florence, all mounted on silk bordered paper, the end sections with gold sprinkled paper, all bound together in a silk covered album.

THE THOMAS GANZ COLLECTION

Ukie "Floating Pictures" was the name given to a new genre of ukoyo-e print that appeared in Japan circa 1739. These perspective pictures followed the rules of recession to a vanishing point, in which the architectural lines were drawn so as to converge sharply towards a lowered horizon. Previously interior and exterior scenes had been seen from above or merely hinted at by means of an object or two. Ukie enabled designers for the first time to illustrate more plausible crowded interior and exterior spaces. They were in vogue from the 1740's - 70's and give a fascinating insight into the bustling theatres, festivals, teahouses, brothels, shops and temples districts of Edo and its environs. They were also to exert a profound long term influence on the landscape prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige.

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.