VISIT TO ZOJOJI TEMPLE (Toyohara Chikanobu)

N.1 triptych of ukiyo-e woodblock prints
Year: 1897
Condition: good
Size: 71 x 35 cm

SOLD

Description

Precious triptych of woodblock prints made by the artist Toyohara Chikanobu (豊原周延) and depicting the Chokugakumon (勅額門), a magnificent portal that was destroyed following the Tokyo bombings in 1945 and which served as the main gate to the Yushoin Reibyo (有章院霊廟), that is the mausoleum of the seventh shogun Tokugawa Ietsugu (徳川家継), in the complex of the Zojoji Temple (増上寺).

The work, produced in August 1897 by the publisher Fukuda Hatsujiro (福田初次郎), owner of Gusokuya (具足屋), and by the carver Watanabe Horiei II (二世渡辺彫栄), is titled “New Year’s Visit to Zojoji Temple at Shiba” (芝増上寺初御成ノ図) and is taken from the series “Chiyoda Outer Palace” (千代田之御表).

The prints on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the right signs of aging including, in the right panel, a slight sign of diagonal fold in the upper part as well as a second and more evident fold along the left margin, are in overall good condition.