About This Print
One of at least 30 prints making up the series Edo Brocades showing a young woman reading, likely the Chinese classics, while her teacher looks on. The prints from this series were bound into albums and this print retains its album backing sheet. A heavy application of silver mica was used on the shelving holding the manuscripts, a detail of which is shown below.
The Series Edo Brocades
Source: Chikanobu: Modernity and Nostalgia in Japanese Prints, Bruce A. Coats, Hotei Publishing, 2006, p. 61, 201.
This set of small deluxe prints revisited many of the subjects and themes Chikanobu had depicted in earlier and larger formats. But where the Chiyoda Inner Palace (Chiyoda no Ooku) series of triptychs portrayed the shogun's private quarters where family members and concubine lived a sheltered life, this series appears to document the pleasures of well-to-do middle class who dressed in fine kimono and practiced certain refined activities such as arranging flowers, writing poems and enjoying with friends the first snowfall (hatsuyuki) or evening plum blossom viewing. The quality of line work in these images is weak in comparison with Chikanobu's designs from the 1890's and suggests that he may have lent his name to Matsuki's production without personally sketching the images. However the mood created by the series is in accord with Chikanobu's vision of domestic life in the late Edo Period.
Edo Brocades does not have any particular historical references, but presents vignettes of Edo residents (Edokko) pursuing traditional pleasures... The linework in these prints is extremely fine, especially around the faces of the delicately drawn figures, although the body proportions still follow Chikanobu's 'canon of beauty.'
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #355 |
| Title or Description |  * reading of the title of this print shown on the left is not confirmed |
| Series | Edo Brocades Edo nishiki 江戸錦 |
| Artist | Yōshū Chikanobu (1838-1912) |
| Signature |  |
| Seal | Toshidama 年玉 (see above) |
| Publication Date | f September 1, 1902 |
| Publisher |  publishing information appearing in left margin: printer and publisher: 印刷兼発行者 address: 東京市日本橋区吉川町二番地 telephone: 電話（浪花）二千二百八十六番 Matsuki Heikichi 松次平吉 followed by Daikokuya "daihei" 大平 seal |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | good – red ink offsetting, original album backing, centerfold from original album inclusion |
| Genre | ukiyo-e |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | oban |
| H x W Paper | 9 3/8 x 13 7/8 in. (23.8 x 35.2 cm) |
| Literature | |
| Collections This Print | Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College 1950.683 |
4/26/2020
3/7/2020
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