Mattia Jona, Master Drawings and Prints, Japanese Prints - Piazzetta Guastalla 5, 20122 Milan, Italy, tel (+39) 02 8053315

TOYOHARA CHIKANOBU (1838 - 1912) A COUPLE IN A SNOW STORM
Woodcut, 1889, from the series 'Azuma Fuzoku Fukuzukushi' (Eastern Customs; Enumerated Blessings), published by Takegawa Unokichi. Signed 'Yoshu Chikanobu hitsu', red seal 'Toshidama'. Very good impression and colour; margins trimmed, slightly soiled, backed and minor red ink bleeding. Otherwise in good condition. 'Oban', 332 x 231 mm.

Chikanobu was a student of Toyohara Kunichika. Favorite subjects of Chikanobu were historical and mythological legends and histories from Japan's past and genre scenes with women and children. His best known series are triptychs showing court life in and around the Chiyoda Palace. Like Chikanobu's contemporary, Yoshitoshi, his print themes concentrate on the history and traditional values of old Japan. These series must be seen against the background of an era when Japan was thriving to adopt Western technology and civilization without any criticism.