1. HOKUSAI (1760-1849) Sumida River. (Sold)

KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI  (1760-1849)

Views along the Sumida river
Seven surimono. Four are forming a single view, from right to left:
Onmaya-gashi, Komagata, Ōkawa-bashi, Mimeguri.
Two surimono forming a diptych of Matsuchiyama and Imado-bashi.
One surimono of Shubi-no-matsu.

Woodblock color print with metallic pigments details
Kokonotsugiriban surimono, each 14x18,2 cm
Each print signed Gakyōjin Hokusai ga
Poems by Sen’entei no Narieda, Senrintei Tsurayoshi, Senkintei Joran and others
Privately published, 1803, year of the Boar

The zodiacal sign is on the kite held by a woman in the Komagata print
Indistinct engraver’s seal on the lower left corner of Shubi-no-matsu design
From an untitled series of which ten surimono are currently known featuring views of the Sumida
river. Delicately printed with the waves in the river embossed and small details embellished with
metallic pigments. Each print bears a small red cartouche giving the location name. Hokusai used
the art name Gakyōjin Hokusai (Hokusai, Man Mad about Drawing) from about 1801 to 1806.

Richard Lane in his Hokusai. Life and Work, p. 283, no. 68, says that there are ten designs in the set
and notes that several of the compositions reappear in the book Ehon Sumida-gawa ryōgan
ichiran published around 1804-5, but in fact, only some characters such as the medicine seller
with his box on his shoulders, the samurai with his servant and some female figures, can be
found to reappear in the books’ illustrations.

The other three known surimono from the set are titled Yanagi-bashi, Yokoami and Komatomeishi. 
The first two, forming a diptych, are illustrated in Narazaki. Ukiyo-e masterpieces Vol. 8, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. no. 196-197), and the third in Mirviss. The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection, no. 169.

Illustrated in our catalogue Surimono. Hokusai-Shinsai-Hokkei-Gakutei, 
September 2024, no. 1.

Very good impression and colour, good condition

Status: Sold

Item: D 473