Antique Japanese Woodblock – Lives of Great People of the Occident James Watt (1736–1819) ca. 1873

无货

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Condition Report: Good Conditon, some minor wrinkling and edge damage. 1 stain. Size 33x23cm

Antique Japanese Woodblock – Lives of Great People of the Occident James Watt (1736–1819) ca. 1873

attributed to Utagawa Kuniteru II

The Englishman James Watt Experimenting with steam. His aunt advising him to give up what she advises to be nonsensical play. Printed and Published by the Ministery of Education.

Provenance: Brand Auction 16-12-1964 nr 336

Apparently there were 14 prints in this series.

Yokohama-e – Yokohama-e are prints depicting foreigners in Yokohama after Japan was opened to trade with the West the 1850s. Previously, Japan had been closed to international trade with only a few strict exceptions, leading to curiosity among the Japanese about the new foreign arrivals and their strange clothing and customs. Many Yokohama-e designs featured people from the “Five Nations,” the five countries that signed trade treaties with Japan in 1858: America, England, the Netherlands, Russia, and France. Others were fanciful depictions of foreign cities, often based on Western illustrations rather than direct observation. These prints proved popular, with hundreds of Yokohama-e published between 1859 and about 1880. These wonderful images provide a great look at this historic time period, using the traditional art form of Japanese woodblock prints to record a new subject.