VERSES IN FREEDOM (Terasaki Kogyo)

$247.00

N.1 kuchi-e woodblock print
Year: 1896
Condition: fair
Size: 30,5 x 22,5 cm

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Description

«You wish to go, and yet your robe I hold. / Where are you going – tell me, dear – today? / Your late returning does not anger me, / But that another steal your heart away» (欲別牽郎衣,郎今到何處。不恨歸來遲,莫向臨邛去。). This beautiful woodblock print by the artist Terasaki Kogyo (寺崎広業), depicting a married couple, illustrates the ancient verses of the Chinese poet Meng Jiao (孟郊).

The print was produced in November 1896 by the Hakubunkan (博文館) publishing house as a kuchi-e (口絵) frontispiece for the volume “Verses in Freedom” (作詩自在), seventeenth in a series of reference books entitled “Encyclopedias for Daily Use” (日用百科全書).

The work on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the right signs of aging and the presence of small stains and some gluing residues on the back, is in fair condition.