Description
Elegant triptych of woodblock prints depicting the empress consort Shoken (昭憲皇后) who, while visiting the Sagami Bay (相模湾) in the company of her court ladies, meets some fisherwomen on the beach in front of Enoshima Island (江の島), visible in the upper part together with Mount Fuji (富士山) which stands out on the horizon.
The work, made by the artist Toyohara Chikanobu (豊原周延), is entitled “An Imperial Excursion to Enoshima” (江之嶋御遊覧之図) and was produced in November 1878 by the publisher Morimoto Junzaburo (森本順三郎), owner of Entaido (円泰堂), with the collaboration of the engraver Watanabe Yataro (渡辺弥太郎).
The prints on Japanese washi paper (和紙) have small fractures and slight stains, wrinkles and fold marks as well as the residues of a relining carried out on the back with vintage newspaper sheets.
