Rare Edo print & Unsigned — Picture Puzzles of Actors'...

** A rare picture puzzles from Edo in a pristine condition ** Title: Shinban shinkufū yakusha na-zukushi hanjimono 志ん板 新工風 役者名尽はん志物 (Newly Published, Newly Devised: Picture Puzzles of Actors' Names) Artist: Unsigned Date: Late Edo period, c. 1859 (Ansei 6) Seal: [to be confirmed in hand] Format: Ōban tate-e, approx. 36.5 × 25 cm Technique: Woodblock print (mokuhanga), polychrome (nishiki-e) Reference: An impression of this design is held in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Paper & condition The print is in an excellent condition with colors fully preserved. Minor soiling and wear to margins. The paper is firm and subtle. Please check the images carefully! The Scene In the Edo period, picture puzzles were one of the favourite intellectual pastimes of ordinary townspeople. A hanji-e (also called hanjimono) hides a word or name in images, and the viewer has to "read" the pictures to solve it. Closely related is jiguchi, a kind of pun in which a familiar word or saying is swapped for one that sounds similar. Popular fiction writers often devised the word play, and ukiyo-e artists turned it into prints and illustrated books. This sheet applies the game to kabuki: as its title says, each small picture on it stands for the name of an actor. Prints like this were cheap, playful items for theatre fans, who would know the actors' names and enjoy working out the solutions. An impression of the same design is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Estimate:£125.57

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