Sold for €585
including Buyer's Premium
By Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
Japan, dated 1849 (Kaei 2)
Woodblock print albums. Ink and color on paper. Each ehon (picture book) sewn together and containing various illustrations. The three volumes titled Hokusai gafu (Hokusai’s picture book), publisher Eirakuya Toshiro.
Each volume begins with a scene of a Noh performer in Okina, an auspicious dance play on the theme of longevity and good fortune. Volume 1 opens with a scene of the Sanbaso dance, and volume 2 begins with a dancer wearing the okina mask of an elderly god. Volume 3 shows Senzai wearing an elegant costume—like the one worn by the dancer in volume 1—and carrying a lacquer box that might contain a mask. These pages feature intense color and clearly were intended to refer to the world of the gods, which in Noh performances were evoked by music, stylized movement, and masks and costumes that obscured the actors’ physical features. By beginning each volume with an evocation of a benevolent god, Hokusai was expressing his personal understanding of the intimate relationship between the divine and visible realms.
Dimensions: 22.7 x 15.8 cm
Condition: Good condition with minor wear and slight browning of paper. Some fading, minor stains, wear to the covers, loose threads with some associated loose pages, few tears, and some creasing.
Provenance: Estate of Wolfgang Zacke (1942-2022), co-founder of Galerie Zacke, thence by descent.
Museum comparison:
A complete set of closely related woodblock print albums, formerly in the Pulverer Collection, acquired by the Freer Gallery of Art, is in the Smithsonian Institution, accession number FSC-GR-780.247.1-5.
By Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
Japan, dated 1849 (Kaei 2)
Woodblock print albums. Ink and color on paper. Each ehon (picture book) sewn together and containing various illustrations. The three volumes titled Hokusai gafu (Hokusai’s picture book), publisher Eirakuya Toshiro.
Each volume begins with a scene of a Noh performer in Okina, an auspicious dance play on the theme of longevity and good fortune. Volume 1 opens with a scene of the Sanbaso dance, and volume 2 begins with a dancer wearing the okina mask of an elderly god. Volume 3 shows Senzai wearing an elegant costume—like the one worn by the dancer in volume 1—and carrying a lacquer box that might contain a mask. These pages feature intense color and clearly were intended to refer to the world of the gods, which in Noh performances were evoked by music, stylized movement, and masks and costumes that obscured the actors’ physical features. By beginning each volume with an evocation of a benevolent god, Hokusai was expressing his personal understanding of the intimate relationship between the divine and visible realms.
Dimensions: 22.7 x 15.8 cm
Condition: Good condition with minor wear and slight browning of paper. Some fading, minor stains, wear to the covers, loose threads with some associated loose pages, few tears, and some creasing.
Provenance: Estate of Wolfgang Zacke (1942-2022), co-founder of Galerie Zacke, thence by descent.
Museum comparison:
A complete set of closely related woodblock print albums, formerly in the Pulverer Collection, acquired by the Freer Gallery of Art, is in the Smithsonian Institution, accession number FSC-GR-780.247.1-5.
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