Lot Essay
A slightly later impression of this rare print with a broken seal below the poem, without the delicate bokashi printing under the eyebrows and on the breast of the owl and with a cobalt blue rather than the purple/blue of the present impression, a fainter blue background and a more pronounced blue around the crescent moon, is illustrated in Suzuki Juzo, Hiroshige, pl. 58 with catalogue note dating the print to the 1830's, publisher not stated. Another impression of the print is illustrated in Art Japonais dans les Collections Suisses, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny, no. 195, there listed as published by Kawaguchi Shozo ca. 1832