A very unusual design by a very rare artist.
Artist: Osai Hōun
Title: Shell Gathering on the Beach
Series: Mirror of Day and Night Customs (fu-zoku chu-ya no kagami)
Date: 1896
Shell Gathering (shio higari) from the series “Mirror of Customs of Day and Night” (fuzoku chuya no kagami). Charming view of a traditional springtime shell gathering custom that began on March 3 for a few days (according to the lunar calendar). The artist has integrated a lovely , mostly traditional interior scene of two beauties and a girl playing with a cat with an outdoor landscape scene with signs of a modernizing Japan. A lady on the veranda holds a pair of binoculars. On the horizon we can detect large steamships. In the central distance we see Mount Fuji, and near the shore on the middle sheet is a humorous view of a man grimacing as a crab pinches his fingers. On the left, above the night scene in a cherry blossom’s frame is a poem. Gas street lanterns and a high tower with lights are signs of modern times.
Title: Women on a Balcony Viewing Mt. Fuji and People Digging Clams Date c. 1890
Publisher Takegawa Seikichi
Format Oban triptych (28-3/4" x 14-3/4")
Burnishing, embossed outline of the blind printed Fuji.
A very unusual design by a very rare artist. The cherry blossom shaped inset on the left sheet seems to commemorate the electrification of Tokyo. Amusing depiction of a man being bitten by a crab in the center sheet; beauty with binoculars and child playing with a dog in the right sheet.