Live Auction 22037Japanese and Korean Art
UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE (1797-1858)
Lot 79 FROM A PRIVATE MIDWEST COLLECTION

UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE (1797-1858)

Ryogoku hanabi (Fireworks, Ryogoku)

Closed19 September 2023

Price Realised

USD 88,200

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UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE (1797-1858)
Ryogoku hanabi (Fireworks, Ryogoku)
Woodblock print, from the series Meisho Edo hyakkei (One hundred views of Edo), signed Hiroshige ga, published by Uoya Eikichi, 8th month 1858
Vertical oban: 14 x 9 5/8 in. (35.6 x 24.4 cm.)

Sotheby's New York, 8 December 1988, lot 98

Specialist note

The firework displays at the Ryogoku Bridge were among the most popular summer pleasures of Edo residents since 1733, when the first official fireworks were commissioned by the eighth Tokugawa Shogun, Yoshimune, to commemorate citizens who had died in a cholera epidemic. The memorial, including a display of fireworks, became an annual observance.