Item from the Mokuhankan Flea Market

Sweetfish in River Tama

Size: 26.5cm by 40.5cm (10.43 in by 15.94 in) | Enlargement | Shipping Code: [L] ?

Designer: Ando Hiroshige

Era: Post-war | Currency: $ / £ / €

Price: ¥ 12,000$ 100.00£ 76.00€ 90.75 [Item has been sold]

Description: This print is from a set of reproductions of 25 of Hiroshige's lesser-known prints, given the English title "Rare Publication: Selected Works by Hiroshige" by the publisher, O-Edo Mokuhansha. Please visit our Collection page where you can see our own preserved copy of this entire set.

This print from the set is a horizontal ōban depicting five ayu, Japanese sweetfish or river trout, from Hiroshige's "A Collection of Fish" (Uo Zukushi) print series probably originally produced by Eijudo in the 1830s.

The poem in the upper section of the print reads, "Even when autumn rains are falling, it swims in the shadow of the water and one doesn't see rust: the trout of the Crystal River" (translation by Matthi Forrer, "The Baur Collection, Geneva: Japanese Prints, Volume 2", p. 535). Forrer adds, "The 'rust' alludes to sabiayu, literally 'rust-trout', a red trout laying eggs in autumn. The popularity of these designs of various fish by Hiroshige must have been considerable. Many variations in subsequent impressions can be noticed, often to the effect that the production became less costly. Therefore refinements in the early impressions were omitted, even to the extent that colour blocks came to be discarded" (ibid.). An early version of the print with a different colour scheme can be viewed here.

There are a few tiny marks at the bottom left corner of this print.

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