Shotei Gallery - Sales Gallery - Item Detail

10111

Moon Rising at Naganuma

Takahashi Shotei (1871-1945) - You can find lots of information about Shotei on my All About Takahashi Shotei page. He used various art names, such as Hiroaki, Rakutei, and Kakei.

This pre-quake version of a well known post-quake design is highly collectible, being both rare and in excellent condition. In 2009, a collector let me know that they had found a copy of this previously undocumented print. It was in very rough condition, but I documented it on the Shōtei Variants Page on the assumption that it was pre-quake. The print offered here is only the second extant copy of which I am aware.

On the bottom verso is a stamp showing Watanabe's inventory number "No. 593" of this print. That number doesn't exist in Watanabe's 1936 post-quake catalog. Watanabe's post-quake inventory number for this design was "185". The fact that this print is not from the same blocks as the post-quake version is easy to see with a side-by-side comparison. The Japanese characters (as yet unread) for the title above the artist's seal are not the same as the post-quake version. This is definitely a pre-quake print.

Watanabe Shozaburo

shin hanga landscape print

16.7 x 24.6 cm   (6.6 x 9.7 inches)

$2000.00

for sale

Before 1923

2022-01-08

ai-zuri (blue), female figure, lantern, male figure, moon, night, shrine, torii gate, tree, water

(4.0 / 5.0) - This print is in excellent condition, with pristine coloration and almost no toning to the underlying paper matrix. There are a few things to note, all of them minor. In the upper right corner verso, there are a couple of old fold lines along with some pencil writing, none of which is visible recto. There is a single raised paper fiber in the upper sky about 3 cm to the right of the tree. The fiber is still attached at the left. Somehow this damage occurred after printing because the fiber is blue and it has left a small line of paper color on the body of the print. This print has no margins. The other copy of this print documented on the variants page does have small margins on 3 sides. In the pre-quake era, it was not uncommon for the publisher Watanabe to trim prints before releasing them, so I don't see this as a fault.

C-3 in the online Shōtei catalog and also on the Shōtei Variants Page

Found by an astute print picker in the American Mid-West. Placed with Shōtei Gallery for consignment in early 2022.

Large :: Verso :: Title and artist seal :: Publisher marking :: Close up of damage

To arrange for a purchase of this item, please read the Business Terms page.