Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

Barn Swallows and Peach Blossoms under Full Moon, Edo Period

Maker

Title

Barn Swallows and Peach Blossoms under Full Moon

Year

Edo Period

Medium

ink and color

Materials/Techniques

Dimensions

Ōtanzakuban: 38.6 x 17.1 cm (15 3/16 x 6 3/4 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signature: 廣重筆 Hiroshige hitsu (Brushed by Hiroshige)

Inscription Text/Poem: 春来遍是桃花水　不辨仙源何处尋
Translation: Spring has come and peach blossoms float in all the streams how impossible to determine where utopia is

Seals: Designer's seal: 弌立斎 Ichiryūsai; Publisher's seal: 若 Waka (若狭屋与市 Wakasaya Yoichi); Censor's seal: 極 kiwame

Marks: On verso at top right: 15.22; in a later hand: 1712; in a another hand inscribed verso, bottom right: [M].222

Identification

State

This appears to be the first state of the print with publisher's mark and kiwame mark (see Bogel) and among the finest known impressions. A later state lacks these seals and does not have pink and black branches, rather branches all black. The breasts of the birds are also printed in pink, not black. A third state has less crisp printing and the publisher's mark of Sanoya Kihei (Kikakudô).

Place

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Edo (location)

Type

Credit

Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Object Number

34.286

Barn Swallows and Peach Blossoms under Full Moon

Signature: 廣重筆 Hiroshige hitsu (Brushed by Hiroshige)

Inscription Text/Poem: 春来遍是桃花水　不辨仙源何处尋
Translation: Spring has come and peach blossoms float in all the streams how impossible to determine where utopia is

Seals: Designer's seal: 弌立斎 Ichiryūsai; Publisher's seal: 若 Waka (若狭屋与市 Wakasaya Yoichi); Censor's seal: 極 kiwame

Marks: On verso at top right: 15.22; in a later hand: 1712; in a another hand inscribed verso, bottom right: [M].222

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Edo (location)
This appears to be the first state of the print with publisher's mark and kiwame mark (see Bogel) and among the finest known impressions. A later state lacks these seals and does not have pink and black branches, rather branches all black. The breasts of the birds are also printed in pink, not black. A third state has less crisp printing and the publisher's mark of Sanoya Kihei (Kikakudô).

Publications

Exhibition History

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