About This Print
After the commemoration ceremonies marking the March 9, 1894 Silver Wedding Anniversary (also known as "The Great Imperial Wedding Anniversary") of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken were completed in the Imperial Palace, (see IHL Cat. #2285 for details), the emperor and empress left the palace to attend an imperial military review at the Aoyama Military Parade Field.
Also see the article Prints of Emperor Meiji, Empress Shōken and the Royal Family.
Reusing a Previous Design
Looking for ways to save money in a competitive business, publisher's who owned the actual woodblocks used to make a print, would occasionally reuse them, with appropriate modifications, to honor a different event than they were originally created for. Such is the case with this collection's print, which was originally issued five years earlier in 1889 to mark the promulgation of the new constitution, as shown below. Note that the only change is to the print's title in the left panel which originally read 憲法発布式鳳輦之図 and was modified to read 御出門之図 銀婚式.
Print Details
IHL Catalog | #2287 |
Title or Description | Emperor and Empress Leaving the Palace after the Silver Wedding Anniversary 御出門之圖 銀婚式 Ginkonshiki goshutsumon no zu |
Artist | Hasegawa Chikuyō (fl. c. 1870-1880s) |
Signature | 翠軒竹葉 Suiken Chikuyō |
Seal (artist) | yin-yang symbol (as shown above) |
Publication Date | March 1894 [While the month and the year of publication has been left blank in the publisher's seal below, in what is likely an oversight, we can be sure that the print was issued in March 1894, the month and year the Silver Wedding Anniversary of the royal couple occurred. |
Publisher | 井上茂兵衛 Inoue Mohei [Marks: pub. ref. 140; seal not shown] publisher's name is written as 井上茂兵ヱ on the seal. |
Carver | |
Printer | |
Impression | good |
Colors | excellent |
Condition | good - each sheet trimmed to image; unbacked; three separate sheets; water stain along top of right and left panels; minor soiling and toning |
Genre | ukiyo-e; kaika-e |
Miscellaneous | |
Format | vertical oban triptych |
H x W Paper | right sheet: 13 3/4 x 9 1/16 in. (34.9 x 23 cm) center sheet: 13 3/4 x 9 1/16 in. (34.9 x 23 cm) left sheet: 13 13/16 x 9 1/16 in. (35.1 x 23 cm) |
H x W Image | |
Collections This Print | |
Reference Literature |
6/14/2020 created