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Lot 38Property of a European Collector
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858)
Two prints from the series The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido Road
Price Realised
GBP 1,500
More Information
Specialist note
This set was started by Eisen and published by Hoeido in 1835, however in 1837 Hiroshige took over the project, working with the publisher Iseiri (Kinjudo).
The first print is the final view of the Kisokaido set and shows Otsu, the last station before Kyoto. The many shop signs lining each side of the street are decorated with characters representing the name of Hiroshige and the publisher, Iseya Rihei (Kinjudo), presumably in celebration of the completion of the series. See Sebastian Izzard, Hiroshige / Eisen, The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaido, (New York, 2007), p.156.
The second design shows travellers eating an evening meal at an inn in the hot springs of Shimosuwa. The woman of the house is serving them rice whilst another guest can be seen in a bath to the left. It has been suggested that the figure seated with his back to the viewer is in fact Hiroshige himself. See Sebastian Izzard, Hiroshige / Eisen, The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaido, (New York, 2007), p. 74
For four different impressions of the first in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, go to:
https://www.mfa.org/collections/search?search_api_views_fulltext=21.5223
For another impression of the second in the Tokyo National Museum, go to:
https://webarchives.tnm.jp/imgsearch/show/C0007251
The first print is the final view of the Kisokaido set and shows Otsu, the last station before Kyoto. The many shop signs lining each side of the street are decorated with characters representing the name of Hiroshige and the publisher, Iseya Rihei (Kinjudo), presumably in celebration of the completion of the series. See Sebastian Izzard, Hiroshige / Eisen, The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaido, (New York, 2007), p.156.
The second design shows travellers eating an evening meal at an inn in the hot springs of Shimosuwa. The woman of the house is serving them rice whilst another guest can be seen in a bath to the left. It has been suggested that the figure seated with his back to the viewer is in fact Hiroshige himself. See Sebastian Izzard, Hiroshige / Eisen, The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaido, (New York, 2007), p. 74
For four different impressions of the first in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, go to:
https://www.mfa.org/collections/search?search_api_views_fulltext=21.5223
For another impression of the second in the Tokyo National Museum, go to:
https://webarchives.tnm.jp/imgsearch/show/C0007251