Shoheibashi Seido Kandagawa (Seido and Kanda river from Shohei bridge) No. 47 from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)
Nishiki-e. Color woodblock print, signed on the plate: Hiroshige ga
Series: Meisho Edo Hyakkei The Hundred Views of Edo n. 47
Date: 1857, ninth month
Format: oban tate-e (mm. 348x230)
Censor: aratame, Snake
Publisher: Uoya Eikichi.
Magnificent proof with excellent colors. Printed on Japanese paper, datable to the second half of the 19th century. In perfect condition. Superbly executed " bokashi " shading. With excellent margins all around beyond the marginal line.
Bibliography:
Sakai, Hiroshige Edo fûkei (1996), list #12.47, pls. 156, 157; Smith & Poster, 100 Views (1986), #4; Ukiyo-e shûka 14 (1981), Hiroshige list, p. 250, vertical ôban #62.47
https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/121660
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/53679
Rare inking with a very dark and rainy sky.
This is the first of three rain scenes in the series, all of which are from the summer season. Here Hiroshige depicts the steady, slanting rain typical of the “plum rain” of June, so called for the fruit that appears at that time. On the Kanda River, boatmen, protected by straw raincoats, haul in their loads of wood, while the hillside villagers all seem comfortable in the warm summer rain. On the right are the outer walls of the Yushima Seidō Shrine, founded in the 17th century for the study of Confucianism.