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Katsukawa Shun'ei. The Sumo Bout between Yotsuguruma (right) and Yamaoroshi (left). Date: 1800 or 1805/06. Similar sheet can be found at Edo Tokyo Museum. Size: Vertical Ōban. Sumo wrestler Yotsuguruma Daihachi (1772 - 1809) first appeared in the records of national tournaments in winter of 1794. Then he lost 3 matches and won zero. He first won in the spring tournament of 1797 in a match against maegashira (the fifth-highest rank of sumo wrestlers) named Kougamine. Yamaoroshi Gengo (born 1762) came in at the winter tournament of 1799 . He was much more successful in his career than Yotsuguruma, but he had never won a tournament. It was the time of great Raiden, who won most of them. In the spring tournament of 1800 Yotsuguruma and Yamaoroshi fought against each other for the first time. Yotsuguruma lost. The next time they met on the ring was at the winter tournament of 1805, and again in 1806. Both matches were won by Yamaoroshi. Yamaoroshi retired in 1809; Yotsuguruma died in 1809. -
Description: Hardcover small 4to, 20.3 x 15.8 cm, contemporary binding, quarter carrot morocco with raised bands over marbled boards, marbled endpapers, original wrappers preserved, gilt lettering to spine. Content: Scapin Maquereau, drame en un acte par M. Albert Glatigny; La grisette et l’étudiant, pièce en un acte par M. Henry Monnier; Le bout de l’an de la noce, parodie du bout de l’an de l’amour de M. Théodore Barrière par MM. Lemercier de Neuville et J. du Boys; Un caprice par Lemercier de Neuville; Les jeux de l’amour et du bazar, comédie de mœurs en un acte par Lemercier de Neuville. Title-page: LE THÉATRE ÉROTIQUE | DE LA RUE DE LA SANTE | {vignette} | PARIS | — | 1932 || Collation: 3 blanks, original front wrapper with black lettering «LE THÉATRE ÉROTIQUE | DE LA RUE DE LA SANTE», [1]4 (2 blanks, frontis., h.t. / limitation), [2]4 (t.p., f.t.p., 2 leaves of text), 3-184 (incl. 2 blanks), original back wrapper, original spine, 3 blanks; 5 full-page illustrations within collation, 3 original watercolours extraneous to collation bound in between 11 and 12 blank leaves. Pagination: [4] [1-8] 9-135 [136] [4], ils. Limitation: 20 copies on Japon and 250 copies on Vélin, this is copy № 201. Edition: 1st edition thus, illustrated with 20 coloured photogravures, 5 of them full-page after Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan], enriched with 3 full-page original watercolours by him. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel (1920-1970): 2498, p. 385; Nordmann/Christie’s (2) 515, p. 251 Contributors: Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan, Фёдор Степанович Рожанковский] (Russian-American, 1891 – 1970) – artist. Joseph Albert Alexandre Glatigny (French, 1839 – 1873) – author. Henry-Bonaventure Monnier (French, 1799 – 1877) – author. Théodore Barrière (French, 1823 – 1877) – author. Louis Lemercier de Neuville [La Haudussière, Louis Lemercier] (French, 1830 – 1918) – author. Jean Charles Duboys [Du Boys] (French, 1836 – 1873) – author. Original watercolours:
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Title: L'ART | D'AIMER, | ET | POÉSIES DIVERSES | DE M. BERNARD. Pagination: [2] – t.p. / stanza by Voltaire; engraved t. p., frontispiece, [1] 2-170; pp. 1-61 – L'art d'aimer; pp. 62-111 – Phrosine et Mélidore; pp. 112-170 – Poésies diverses; illustrations. Collation: 8vo; π1 (letterpress t.p.), A-K8 L5; + 8 plates: (1)* engraved title page facing the stanza by Ch. Baquoy; (2) plate as a frontispiece by Ponce after Ch. Eisen, inscribed Chant I above the image, dated 1772, facing p. [1], chant 1er of l’art; (3)* Ch. Baquoy after P. Martini, inscribed Chant II below the image, facing p. 22, chant 2nd of l’art; (4) Ch. Baquoy after Eisen, inscribed Chant III above the image, facing p. 44, chant 3rd of l’art; (5)* Patas after P. Martini, inscribed Chant Ier below the image, dated 1775, facing p. 62, chant 1er of Phrosine; (6) Ch. Baquoy after Eisen, inscribed Chant II above the image, facing p. 74, chant 2nd of Phrosine; (7)* C. Gaucher after P. Martini, facing p. 84, chant 3rd of Phrosine; (8) Ch. Baquoy after Eisen, inscribed Chant IV above the image, facing p. 97, chant 4th of Phrosine; * – images additional to 1772 edition by Le Jay [LIB-2706.2021] (i.e. plates 1, 3, 5, and 7 are new). A counterfeit edition by an anonymous publisher. Binding: brown pebbled morocco, triple fillet gilt-ruled boards, raised bands, gilt in compartments, gilt label lettering to spine, marbled endpapers, AMG; printed on laid paper, with tall 's'. Catalogue raisonné: Cohen, De Richi (1912): p. 132: describes a counterfeit edition with 170 pages and 3 additional plates plus an engraved title. This seems to be a combination of Lejan [sic] Paris 1775 edition, which normally has 134 pages, 8vo, title engraved by Baquoy and three plates after Martini by Patas, Baquoy and Gaucher. Contributors: Nicolas Ponce (French, 1746 – 1831) – engraver. Jean Charles Baquoy (French, 1721 – 1777) – engraver. Jean-Baptiste Patas (French, 1748 – 1817) – engraver. Charles-Étienne Gaucher (French, 1740 – 1804) – engraver. Charles-Dominique-Joseph Eisen (French, 1720 – 1778) – artist. Pietro Antonio Martini (Italian, 1738 – 1797) – artist. Pierre-Joseph Bernard [Gentil-Bernard] (French, 1708 – 1775) – author of the text. -
Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). No publisher seal, no date or censor seal; probably a private printing. Signed: Kunisada ga [国貞画] in a red double gourd cartouche. Media: Untrimmed fan print (uchiwa-e), 231 x 294 mm, with the use of mica and black lacquer. -
Description: Publisher’s French flapped wrappers 28.2 x 19.2 cm, lettering to front cover “SCÈNES | DE | PÉRIPATÉTICIENNES | Εις το αφρωδιαζειν αγει | MCMIII”, pp. [1-6] 7-132 [4]. 10 laid-in (unbound) colour plates after André Collot, including the title-page vignette. Text printed on laid paper, plates on wove paper. According to J.-P. Dutel (1920-1970) № 2366, p. 356, this is a pirated reprint with 11 plates of the 1927 or 1935 edition of “Douze douzains de dialogues”, illustrated with 12 hand-coloured etchings after André Collot (№ 1427, 1428, p. 137, ibid.). Limitation of 200 copies seems fake as per Pia, the copy in BNF bears number 262 (Pia № 1213, p. 635; № 359, p. 200). Title-page: SCÈNES DE | PÉRIPATÉTICIENNES (arch) | Εις το αφρωδιαζειν αγει | MCMIII || Pictorial t.p.: {vignette in colour} | Douze douzains de Dialogues | ou | Petites scènes amoureuses | * || (text in fac-simile ms). Limitation: edition is limited to 200 copies of which this is copy № 44. Contributors: Pierre Louÿs (French, 1870 – 1925) – author. André Collot (French, 1897 – 1976) – artist. See: LIB-2819.2021 in this collection. -
Softcover volume, 33 x 26 cm, collated in folio, not bound, in publisher’s French flapped pictorial wrappers, lettering to spine; printed on thick wove Arches paper watermarked “MBM”, upper edge trimmed, owner’s blind stamp to h.t. “Ex Libris Comte Tony de Vibraye”, glassine dust jacket, in a slipcase. Collation: π2 1-262, total 54 leaves, plus 4 leaves in wrappers, plus 10 plates, incl. frontispiece; coloured aquatints after Sylvain Sauvage; coloured etched vignette to front wrapper, gilt woodcut to back wrapper, woodcut title-page and woodcut headpiece after the same. Pp.: [4] [1] 2-102 [2]. Front wrapper (gilt and black): LA NUIT & LE MOMENT | {vignette} | OU | LES MATINÉES DE CYTHÈRE | PAR | MONSIEUR DE CRÉBILLON LE FILS | — || Title-page (woodcut): CRÉBILLON LE FILS | — | LA NUIT ET LE MOMENT | OU | LES MATINÉES | DE CYTHÈRE | {vignette} | A PARIS | AUX DEPENS D'UN AMATEUR | — | M CM XXIV || Limitation: De cette édition il a été tiré un exemplaire unique sur japon impérial comportant dix aquarelles originales, deux cents trente exemplaires sur vélin d' Arches numérotés 1 à 230, dont les dix premiers avec une suite de hors texte sur japon. N° 1 [Print run limited to 230 copies on Arches plus a unique copy on Japon with original watercolours, this is copy № 1 on wove paper]. Seller’s description: La Nuit et le moment ou Les Matinées de Cythère. Paris, Au dépens d'un amateur, 1924. In-4, en feuilles, non rogné, couverture illustrée et étui. Ouvrage illustré de 4 gravures sur bois et de 10 eaux-fortes libres en couleurs hors texte de Sylvain Sauvage. Tirage à 231 exemplaires, celui-ci le n°1 sur vélin d'Arches. Manque la suite de hors texte sur japon. De la bibliothèque du Comte Tony de Vibraye, avec cachet à froid. Dutel, n°2062. Catalogue raisonné: honesterotica.com; Dutel III 2062. Contributors: Claude-Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon [Crébillon fils] (French, 1707 – 1777) – author. Sylvain Sauvage [Félix Roy] (French, 1888 – 1948) – artist. Provenance: Antoine Henri Gaston Hurault de Vibraye [Comte Tony de Vibraye] (French, 1893 – 1951) -
Evening Snow on Mount Hira (Hira no bosetsu), from the series Eight Views of Ōmi in Modern Guise (Ryaku Ōmi hakkei, (略近江八景). About 1773–75 (An'ei 2–4). Artist: Isoda Koryūsai (Japanese, 1735–1790) CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ: Hockley 2003, p. 202, #F-21-1 DIMENSIONS: Vertical chûban; 26 x 19.3 cm (10 1/4 x 7 5/8 in.)Signed: Koryû ga [湖竜画] -
Description: Hardcover, 19 x 13 cm, contemporary binding, ¾ carrot morocco with raised bands over patterned cloth, similarly patterned endpapers, original pink wrappers preserved, gilt lettering to spine, Japanese previous owner’s stamp フィリップ (Firippu or Philippe) to verso front endpaper. Title-page: EXAMEN | DE | FLORA | à l’effet d’obtenir | son diplôme de putain | PARIS || Collation/pagination: blank flyleaf, original front wrapper with vignette, [1] blank, original watercolour 13.5 x 11 cm bound in, [2] blank, [3] h.t. / frontispiece, [4] t.p., 5-45 [46] [2] limitation / blank, back wrapper, blank flyleaf, with 14 stencil-coloured photogravures (au pochoir), two of them full-page, incl. frontispiece, after Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan]. Limitation: 15 copies on Japon and 300 copies on Vélin, this is copy № 7. Edition: 1st edition thus, illustrated with 14 coloured photogravures, 2 of them full-page after Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan], enriched with an original watercolour by the same artist. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel (1920-1970): 1532, p. 160 (same copy); honesterotica.com Provenance: J.-P. Dutel Note: J.-P. Dutel dates the edition as “vers 1935”; however, based on the edition of Le théâtre érotique de la rue de la Santé / [illustré par Rojan]. — Paris: s.n., 1932 [LIB-2816.2021] in this collection, which contains some of the same illustrations, we attribute it to 1932. Contributors: Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan, Фёдор Степанович Рожанковский] (Russian-American, 1891 – 1970) – artist. Louis Protat (French, 1819 – 1881) – author. Illustrations:
Le théâtre érotique / Original
Examen de Flora / Original
Le théâtre érotique / Original
Le théâtre érotique / Original
Examen de Flora / Print
Examen de Flora / Print
Examen de Flora / Print
Examen de Flora / Print
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Title: L'ELOGE | DE | LA FOLIE, | TRADUIT | DU LATIN D'ERASME | Par M. Gueudeville. | NOUVELLE EDITION REVÛE & CORRIGÉE | sur le Texte de l'Edition de Basle. | ORNÉE DE NOUVELLES FIGURES. | AVEC DES NOTES. | {vignette Eisen / Le Mire} | — | M. DCC LI. || Pagination: [2 blank] [2] – h.t. / blank, [2] – t.p. / {citation*} | [4] – explication des figures; [i] ii-xxiv, [1] 2-222, [2] – table, [2 blank], plus frontispiece and 13 plates by various engravers after Charles Eisen, total number of pages 10+24+222+4=260, ils. Collation: 4to; [1 blank], π4 a-c4 A-Ee4 [1 blank], total number of leaves 130 plus frontispiece and 13 plates. Plates printed in black, paper 24 x 17.8 cm (grand papeir, 9.5 x 7 inches). Binding: Contemporary mottled calf, triple fillet gilt border with pomegranate corner pieces to boards, spine with raised bands, gilt foliage and pomegranates in compartments, red morocco spine label, all edges gilt, rebacked preserving the original spine and peacock marbled endpapers. Size: 24.8 x 18.8 cm; leaves 24 x 17.8 cm; text printed area: 10 x 6 cm. * Citattion: Admonere voluimus, non lædere: | Consulere moribus Hominum, | non officere. | Erasm. Epist. ad Mart. Dorpium Theolog. Usually, the citation is "Admonere voluimus, non mordere; prodesse, non laedere…", etc. Rococo-framed frontispiece engraved by Martinasie under the supervision of Le Bas. Contributors: Erasmus, Desiderius [Roterodamus] (Dutch, 1466 – 1536) – author. Gueudeville, Nicolas (French, 1652 – 1721) – translator. Meusnier de Querlon, Anne-Gabriel (French, 1702 – 1780) – notes. Eisen, Charles (French, 1720 – 1778) – artist. Engravers: Aliamet, Jacques (French, 1726 – 1788) Flipart, Charles Joseph (French, 1721 – 1797) Beauvais, Nicolas Dauphin de (French, 1687 – 1736) Pinssio [Pincio], Sébastien (French, 1721 – after 1744) Martenasie, Pierre François (French-Flemish, 1729 – 1789) Le Bas [Lebas], Jacques-Philippe (French, 1707 – 1783) Provenance: Bishop, Cortlandt Field (American, 1870 – 1935) – bookplate. Mary S. Collins – bookplate by J. H. Fincken. Robin F. Satinsky (American, 1919 – 2008) – Robin Collection bookplate. Catalogue raisonné: Cohen–deRichi 348-349; Lewine, p. 170; Ray (French) № 24, pp. 52-54. -
Single volume, 18 x 12.5 cm, bound in ¾ crimson morocco over marbled boards, gilt double-fillet borders, spine with gilded raised bands, gilt in compartments, gilt-lettered label, marbled endpapers, top margin gilt, text printed on dense wove paper, with 8 etchings by anonymous on thin laid paper (Chine) with tissue guards, after original lithographs by Devéria and Henri Grévedon or Octave Tassaert for the 1833 edition (1926 re-print LIB-3135.2023); the plate with the ape after 1864 edition (LIB-3087.2022) and the plate with the donkey after unknown. Title-page: GAMIANI | OU | DEUX NUITS D’EXCES | PAR | A D M | — | EN HOLLANDE | – | 1866 || Pagination: [4] (h.t., t.p.), [i] ii-xvi, [3] 4-153 [154 blank]; total 158 pages plus 8 plates (anonymous etchings), incl. frontispiece. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel I: A-470; Pia: 518/9. BNF Enfer 418. Note: This edition is conformant with Dutel, but not with Pia, who mentions [2], xvi, 148 pp. Pia writes: 'According to a bibliographic record published in 1874 by Vital Puissant, this edition was printed in Brussels by Briard on behalf of Alphonse Lécrivain, a Parisian publisher who took refuge in Belgium'. Catalogue Poulet-Malassis & ses amis description: № 74. [Alfred de MUSSET] A D M. Gamiani ou deux nuits d’excès. En Hollande, 1866. In-8 de xvi, 153 pages, demi-maroquin cerise à coins, dos à nerfs orné, lets dorés sur les mors, tête dorée, tranches naturelles, couverture conservée (reliure ancienne). Illustré de 8 gravures sur Chine dont l’une en frontispice, toutes accompagnées de serpentines. Piqûres et mouillures. Dutel A-470, pas à l’Enfer de la BnF. -
Woodblock print album of thirteen prints, ōban, nishiki-e. Artist: Chōkyōsai Eiri [鳥橋斎 栄里] (Japanese, fl. c. 1789 ~ 1801 ). Models of calligraphy (Fumi no kiyogaki), New Year 1801. This title is taken from Chris Uhlenbeck's Japanese Erotic Fantasies Sexual Imagery of the Edo Period. — Hotei Publishing, 2005, ISBN 90-74822-66-5):. A detailed description of the album can be found at The Complete Ukiyo-e Shunga №9 Eiri, 1996, ISBN 4-309-91019. Most of the edition is in Japanese, though Richard Lane writes a section in English: Eiri: Love-letters, Love Consummated: Fumi-no-kiyogaki. The article starts with the following statement: "Why all the fuss about Sharaku? Because he is so "mysterious"? No, not at all: because he is such a good artist. But Sharaku is not the only great yet enigmatic ukiyo-e artist and I propose to resurrect here one of his important contemporaries who has been all too long neglected: Chōkyōsai Eiri. As with many of the notable ukiyo-e masters, nothing is known of Eiri's biography. All we can say is what we learn from his extant prints and paintings: that he flourished during the second half of the Kansei Period [1789-1801]; and that he was a direct pupil of the great Eishi - who, being of eminent samurai stock, may well have attracted pupils of similar background." Another citation from Japanese Erotic Fantasies: "This album is one of the boldest sets of ōban-size shunga known, The first edition contains thirteen instead of the customary twelve designs". Here I present all thirteen prints, though the edition I bought in Kyoto in 2014 contained only twelve. The thirteenth print was purchased later in the United States (sheet №12).
№1: "...one of the most exotic scenes in all shunga. A Dutch kapitan is discovered coupling with a lovely Japanese courtesan, beside a large window opening upon a garden...".
№2: "...a fair young harlot is seen masturbating with a grinding-pestle - a man watches intently from under bedding." [I have two specimens of this design; the one from album is more soiled but less faded].
№3: "...the artist has effectively contrasted the lovers by depicting the man's face as seen through the geisha's gauze skirt. [...] we are impressed more by strikingly elegant composition, the dramatic coloring, rather than feeling any great urge to participate in the energetic proceedings..."
№4: "This scene is a most straightforward one, featuring the standard Missionary Position [capitalization by R. Lane].; but withal, the contrast of the young and naked, secret lover and the richly-clothed courtesan amid luxurious bedding..."
№5: "In a striking lesbian scene (which has no equivalent in Utamaro, and is, incidentally, often omitted in later editions of this album), the girl at left prepares to receive the harikata (dildo) worn by the older girl at right (who holds a seashell containing lubricant)."
№6: "In the first appearance of a matronly heroine in this series, we find a widow - with shaven eyebrows and clipped hair - sporting with a handsome yound shop-clerk, mounting him with all her might."
№7: "... lady of samurai court: here, shown taking advantage of an official outing to temple and theatre, to rendezvous with a secret lover on a teahouse balcony." R. Lane considers this design the least successful in the series, especially in comparison with the same theme by Utamaro: "Utamaro female is almost ferocious in her lust for sexual gratification", which does not sound true to me. See Utamaro's sheet №5 from the album Utamakura (歌まくら, Poem of the Pillow) [courtesy The British Museum without permission]:
Then, as Richard Lane states, "we are flung suddenly to the bottom rung of Edo society":
№8: "Here we find a fair yotaka ('night-hawk', e.i. streetwalker) accommodating a lusty client in a lumberyard by the bank of the Sumida River".
№9: '... a slightly plump harlot of the lower class receives a night visit from her lover, whose naked form she tries to cover with a cloak."
№10: "...likely maidservant and lackey - are depicted in bath-room, their passions are all too obviously fired by steaming water."
№11: "...this scene of courtesan and secret lover ranks high not only in Eiri's œuvre but also in the annals of the ukiyo-e genre itself. Both design and colouring are impeccable and, for this period, there is nothing even in the work of great Utamaro that really surpasses it." Again, a doubtful statement, however, this is Utamaro's design for the reader to judge:
The last design in my album is this:
#13: In most reference books it goes under number 13, and we will assign this number to the sheet. "The final scene of the album features naked participants, probably samurai man and wife. The print is rather subdued in tone and colour, if not in the degree of the passion displayed..."
An additional sheet, acquired separately from a reputable dealer in New York, is usually listed as №12:
№12: "One might think that Eiri has reached his peak with the preceding plate 11 - and indeed he has, in both esthetic and erotic terms. But the album is not yet finished, and the next scene lends a needed variety to the series, a slightly comic tableau featuring a middle-aged lackey attempting to forcibly seduce a servant girl of the same domicile". Utamaro's design, that inspired Eiri is here:
All descriptions are taken from Richard Lane's article at The Complete Ukiyo-e Shunga №9 Eiri, 1996. He concluded: "...Eiri's erotic series represents a major contribution to shunga art towards the close of ukiyo-e "Golden Age". In part inspired by Utamaro's classic album, this series withal constitutes a unified and original achievement, providing a cumulative effect of gracefully elegant yet glowing eroticism, which remains in the mind's eye long after the pictures themselves are far away."
I only would like to mention here that in several reference sources this album goes under name of Eisho; unfortunately, this mistake is reproduced at www.ukiyo-e.org, which miraculously shows exactly my print, but under the wrong name of the artist. The same mistake can be found at Shunga. The art of love in Japan. Tom and Mary Anne Evans. Paddington Press Ltd., 1975. ISBN 0-8467-0066-2; plates 6.74-6.77: Chōkyōsai Eishō, c. 1800. Even the British Museum edition of 2010 gives the same erroneous attribution: Chōkyōsai Eishō (1793-1801); they provide the following translation of title: "Clean Draft of a Letter" [see: Shunga. Erotic art in Japan. Rosina Buckland. The British Museum Press, 2010; pp. 110-112]. To the honour of the British Museum, I must admit that they have corrected themselves in Shunga. Sex and pleasure in Japanese art. Edited by Timothy Clark, et al. Hotei Publishing, 2013. Now, they say Chōkyōsai Eiri (worked c. 1790s-1801); they also provide a new title: "Neat Version of the Love Letter, or Pure Drawings of Female Beauty". I have already mentioned Richard Lane's version of title: "Love-letters, Love Consummated", and Chris Uhlenbeck's "Models of calligraphy". In poorly designed and printed Shunga. Erotic figures in Japanese art. Presented by Gabriele Mandel. Translated by Alison L'Eplattenier. Crescent Books, New York, 1983, the artist is named Shokyosai Eisho (beginning of the 19th century); title provided: "Models of Calligraphy". Correct attribution to Chōkyōsai Eiri also can be found at Poem of the pillow and other stories by Utamaro, Hokusai, Kuniyoshi and other artists of the floating world. Gian Carlo Calza in collaboration with Stefania Piotti. Phaidon Press, 2010; though the title is translated as "Clean Copy of Female Beauty".
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Description: Three volumes 20.5 x 13 cm each, collated 8vo, uniformly bound in quarter calf over marbled boards, with raised bands, gilt in compartments and black and brown gilt-lettered labels to spine; bookplate “Ex libris Jacques Laget” pasted on to front pastedown. Printed on laid paper, with tall “s”. Title-page: L'AN | DEUX MILLE | QUATRE CENT QUARANTE. | Rêve s'il en fût jamais; | SUIVI DE | L'HOMME DE FER, | SONGE. | — | Le présent est gros l’avenir. / Leibnitz. (O utinam !; Le plaisir sans égal seroit de fonder la félicité publique.) | — | NOUVELLE ÉDITION | Avec Figures. | TOME PREMIER (SECOND; TROISIEME). | {device} | — | 1786. || Vol 1: fep a8 A-Z8 2A8; total 201 leaves plus engraved frontispiece by Ghendt after Marillier; pp: ff [i-v] vi-xvi, 1-380 [4]; total 402 pages. Vol. 2: fep π2, A-Z8 2A8 fep; total 196 leaves plus engraved frontispiece by Ghendt after Marillier; pp: [6] 1-381 [5]; total 392 pages. Vol. 3: fep π2, A-T8 V5 fep; total 161 leaves plus engraved frontispiece by Ghendt after Marillier; pp: [6] 1-312 [4]; total 322 pages. Catalogue raisonné: Cohen-DeRicci 701; Lewine 353 Provenance: Jacques Laget (French, 1821 – 1884). Contributors: Louis-Sébastien Mercier (French, 1740 – 1814) – author. Clément Pierre Marillier (French, 1740 – 1808) – artist Emmanuel Jean Nepomucène de Ghendt (Flemish, worked in France, 1738 – 1815) – engraver. See also: LIB-0979.2016 and LIB-2695.2021. -
Colour (tone) lithography, image 268 x 410 mm, sheet 317 x 470 mm; signed on bottom-left of the image “Pelikan 1905”, and pencil ms inscription: E. Pelikan to the lower-right corner of the sheet. Contributor: Emilie Mediz-Pelikan (Austrian, 1861 – 1908) – artist. Seller's description: Austrian-German painter and graphic artist. Emilie Mediz-Pelikan was born in Vöcklabruck in 1861. She studied at the Vienna Academy and followed her teacher Albert Zimmermann to Salzburg and in 1885 to Munich. In 1891 she married the painter and graphic artist Karl Mediz (1868 - 1945), with whom she lived in Vienna and from 1894 in Dresden. She was in contact with the Dachau Artists' Colony and went on study trips to Paris, Belgium, Hungary and Italy. In the Dachau artists' colony she was friends with Adolf Hölzel and Fritz von Uhde. In 1889 and 1890 she spent time in Paris and in the Belgian artists' colony Knokke. In 1898 she was represented at the first art exhibition of the Vienna Secession, and in 1901 at the International Art Exhibition in Dresden. In 1903 she and her husband had a group exhibition, at the Hagenbund in Vienna. In 1904, she showed graphic works at the Dresden royal court art dealer Richter, and in 1905 and 1906 she exhibited at the Berlin Künstlerhaus. It was not until around 1900 that she achieved her artistic breakthrough with her landscape paintings. Since the estate of the artist, who died prematurely in Dresden in 1908, was lost in the former GDR until the 1980s, it was quite late that the artist was rediscovered and revalued both in Austrian art history and on the art market. In 1986, the first major exhibitions took place at the Upper Austrian State Museum and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, followed by numerous smaller exhibitions in private galleries in Vienna, Linz and Munich. The artist received recognition during her lifetime from numerous prominent fellow painters as well as from the art critic Ludwig Hevesi. Together with Tina Blau, Herbert Boeckl, Marie Egner, Theodor von Hörmann, Franz Jaschke, Eugen Jettel, Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel, Rudolf Junk, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Johann Victor Krämer, Heinrich Kühn, Carl Moll, Rudolf Quittner, Rudolf Ribarz, Emil Jakob Schindler, Max Suppantschitsch, Max Weiler, Olga Wisinger-Florian and Alfred Zoff, she was a protagonist of the reception of Impressionism in Austria. This style went down in Austrian art history under the term "Stimmungsimpressionismus". -
Katsukawa Shun'ei. Signed: Shun'ei ga (春英画). Vertical Ōban. No reference whatsoever. Unidentified play, actors, roles, year, theatre. SOLD -
Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a yellow toshidama cartouche. Publisher: Unknown, seal [久] Kyū (Japanese, fl. c. 1851 – 1861); (Marks 07-023 | U176a, possibly Sagamia Kyūzō). Block carver: Koizumi Minokichi [小泉巳の吉] (Japanese, 1833 – 1906); seal: Hori Mino [彫已の] (Gordon Friese № 38). Date seal and double nanushi censor seals: Fuku & Muramatsu, Kaei 6, 2nd month (2/1853). Inscription in a red cartouche: (Purple of Edo // Purple of the Bay Capital) [江都むらさき] (Edo Murasaki), alluding to Murasaki Shikibu [紫 式部] (Japanese, c. 973/8 – c. 1014/31), the author of Genji Monogatari [源氏物語] (The Tale of Genji), a Heian period novel which was the source of a parody Nise Murasaki Inaka Genji [偐紫田舎源氏] (Fake Murasaki’s Rustic Genji) by Ryutei Tanehiko [柳亭種彦] (Japanese, 1783 – 1842). According to Horst Graebner: The actor is most probably Segawa Kikunojō V. Segawa Kikunojō V [瀬川菊之丞] (Japanese, 1802 – 1832); other names: Segawa Tamon I. One of the series of Kunisada's fan prints in this collection: -
Unbound, unpaginated album (28.4 x 19.5 cm) with 24 leaves (12 folded sheets 28 x 38 cm each), printed on thick wove paper, watermarked Vidalon, with text and 31 vignettes, some pages foxed. Publisher’s original flapped cream wrappers, lettering to front: Raymond Radiguet | Vers Libres | {vignette} || Half-title: “Vers Libres” on a ribbon covering a stick, garland, and flute. Title: Raymond Radiguet | Vers Libres | {vignette} | NOGENT | AU PANIER FLEURI || Illustrations: Cover vignette, frontispiece, tail- and a headpiece for introduction, and vignettes (total 31 illustrations) undoubtedly attributed Rojan (Feodor Rojankovsky). Poems: Chat perché; Champigny, Les fiancés de treize ans, Saison, Le petit journal, Ébauches, Usée, Jeux innocents, Bains publics, L’autre bouche, Cinématographe. In 1937, the «Jeux innocents» piece was added to the 1935 edition, together with 4 illustrations on top of 27 vignettes in 1935, making it 31. Edition: 1st thus; however, the 1935 edition may be considered the 'real' 1st. Limitation on the last page: the total print run on 250 copies by subscription only, this copy is № 181 from 243 on Vélin de Vidalon (as per Dutel). Illustrations printed in black and stencil-coloured (au pochoir). Catalogue raisonné: Dutel 2593; Nordmann (2): 451. Contributors: Raymond Radiguet (French, 1903 – 1923) – author. Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan; Рожанковский, Фёдор Степанович] (Russian-American, 1891 – 1970) – artist. -
Description: Two volumes 23.1 x 14.9 cm each, collated in 4to, uniformly bound in French flapped wrappers with the title and an engraved vignette, coloured; wrapped in glassine; cased in a cardboard chemise (23.1 x 15 cm) with a diaper of two hearts pierced by an arrow, in pink; and both volumes cased in a slipcase (23.8 x 15.2 cm) with the same diaper. Printed on unpaginated dense wove paper watermarked ‘Arches’, engravings with clear plate marks. Illustrations are by Jean Dulac. Title-page (double-fillet frame, black and red in manuscript) Nelly et Jean | – | nous deux | simples | papiers | du| tiroir secret | {vignette} | Première partie (Deuxième partie) | – | Gravé | et imprimé | pour les auteurs | et leurs amis || Vol. 1: 1 blank, π4 (blank, h.t., frontis., engr. t.p.), 1-84, [2 blanks]; total 39 leaves with 19 hand-coloured burin engravings, incl. wrapper, frontis., and t.p. Unpag. Vol. 2: 1 blank, π4 (blank, h.t., frontis., engr. t.p.), 1-114, [1 colophon] [2 blanks], total 52 leaves with 27 hand-coloured burin engravings, incl. wrapper, frontis., and t.p. Unpag. Limitation: total print run of 295 copies of which 12 (№№ 1-12) on Japon Impérial, 13 on Vélin d’Arches (№№ 13-25), 30 on Japon Impérial (№№ 26-55) and 240 on Vélin d’Arches (№№ 56-295); this is copy № 97 on Vélin d’Arches. Contributors: Marcel Valotaire (French, 1889 – 1979) – author. Jean Dulac (French, 1902 – 1968) – artist. Printed by Coulouma (Argenteuil) and Vernant (Paris). The same title with illustrations by Gaston de Sainte-Croix was published in 1956: LIB-2880.2021. -
Ippitsusai Bunchō (一筆斎文調); lived 1725-1794; flourished 1755–1790. Size: Chuban; 26 x 20 cm The design presents a young woman reading a scroll while arranging her hear, and a young man with a rowing rod watching over her shoulder; the pair is standing on a giant shrimp that ferries them over a stream. The third passenger is a literate octopus, who's is attentively exploring the text of a scroll. This allusion comes to mind promptly: “Bodhidharma crossing the Yangzi River on a reed” (Royō Daruma).
Image from Asian Art Museum in San Francisco:
Masanobu’s mitate wittily evokes an episode known as “Bodhidharma crossing the Yangzi River on a reed” (Royō Daruma). According to legend, the river crossing occurred en route to the Shaolin monastery, where Bodhidharma sat facing a wall for nine years without speaking. While serious interpretations abound in Chinese and Japanese paintings, popular prints of the Edo period often playfully substituted a beautiful woman for the monk. This parodic version was reportedly invented in response to a courtesan’s comment that she was more enlightened than Bodhidharma because she had spent ten years sitting, on display in a brothel.
An interesting article about this particular design is published at UKIYO-E.ORG BLOG. Though, the design is erroneously attributed to Harunobu. We see that Bunchō was quite fascinated by the idea of crossing a water obstacle with the help of an unsuitable means of transportation:
Female Daruma Riding a Mushroom. MFA # 21.4758.
