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Re: Re: Japanese edo period woodblock series - genuine?

Posted By: Oxonian
Posted Date: Oct 15, 2022 (06:14 AM)

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Thanks for you reply Stan,

From what little I've learned of the subject in the couple of days since I found these, 'reproduction' is something of an ambiguous term, given that original woodblock images were designed to be reproduced by multiple publishers in varying formats (including some I've seen in the 'hagaki' size, I have. So reproduction could cover contemporary re-print, later reproduction, or 'fake' (something purporting to be that which it is not).

The question then is, which is mine? and is it possible to determine when the copy was made and by whom? The images I have are at least 60 years old (I know this, since they came from my mother and I have not seen them in my lifetime, and were found loose alongside a German book of "Japanishe Farbenholzschnitte" from 1950s.

I'm guessing from the vibrancy of the colours and the relative thickness of the paper compared with original examples I've seen online, that these prints are early (≤1950) 20th Century rather than 19th.

Is there a way of telling if these images were part of an official edition by a recognised publisher, and if so would they have any particular value in their own right (above say a postcard of the same image).

Personally, I hope they don't turn out to be valuable as that would give me a dilemma, and I like them as they are and hope to have them mounted and framed.

Any further light anyone can shed would be most welcome.

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Re: Re: Re: Japanese edo period woodblock series - genuine? - Stan - Oct 19, 2022 (10:15 PM)