Sadahide – Suehiro Tōkaidō (1865) – Minakuchi with Lake...

Artist: Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide 歌川貞秀 (1807–1873), pupil of Kunisada Series: Suehiro Gojūsan Tsugi (末広五十三次), "Fifty-three Stations of the Fan [of the Tōkaidō]", also known as the "Processional Tōkaidō" Title: Minakuchi (水口) Place names inscribed on the sheet: Hira-ga-take 比良ヶ岳, Sakamoto Sannō 坂本山王, Karasaki 唐崎, Katata 堅田, Mikami-yama 三上山 Technique: Woodblock print (nishiki-e), colour on paper Date: Keiō 1 (1865) Format: Vertical ōban, approx. [36 × 24 cm] Signature: Gountei Sadahide ga (五雲亭貞秀画) CONDITION Excellent Colors and impression. The paper has minor soiling otherwise clean and subtle. Please check the images! About the print The Suehiro Gojūsan Tsugi was one of the last large ukiyo-e projects of the Edo period. It was published in 1865 as a joint series by several leading artists, among them Hiroshige II, Kuniteru, Yoshitoshi and Sadahide, who contributed at least nine designs. Its subject is the great lord's procession travelling along the Tōkaidō. The fan-shaped title cartouche gives the series its name: suehiro, the "widening" folding fan, is a symbol of good fortune. Minakuchi was the 50th station of the Tōkaidō, a castle town and post-station in Ōmi province, the last stretch of the road before Kyoto. The place names Sadahide wrote into the sky identify the landscape beyond: Mount Mikami (Mikami-yama), the "Fuji of Ōmi", and, across Lake Biwa, the Hira mountains, Sakamoto with its Sannō shrine, the pine of Karasaki and Katata. Karasaki and Katata are two of the Eight Views of Ōmi. Sadahide was known for wide panoramic views and bird's-eye compositions, and this sheet places the procession in the middle of that panorama.

Estimate:£127.08

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