HIROSHIGE: oban yoko-e (23.1 x 36.8cm.); Seba, station 32, from the series Kisokaido rokujukyutsugi no uchi "The sixty-nine stations of the Kisokaido", signed Hiroshige ga and published by Iseya Rihei [Kinjudo, in double-gourd cartouche left of title]--fine impression and very good color, center fold, very good condition

Details
HIROSHIGE: oban yoko-e (23.1 x 36.8cm.); Seba, station 32, from the series Kisokaido rokujukyutsugi no uchi "The sixty-nine stations of the Kisokaido", signed Hiroshige ga and published by Iseya Rihei [Kinjudo, in double-gourd cartouche left of title]--fine impression and very good color, center fold, very good condition

Lot Essay

Under the full moon two boatmen punt a boat of timber and a raft of logs along the Narai River through the land that borders Lake Suwa. The yellow roofs of the dwellings at Seba station of the Kiso road rise between silhouettes of trees in the distance.

This is among the earliest extant impressions of this image with characteristic fine printing and coloration, trees printed along the horizon, horizontal lines printed in blue in the water at the edge of the bank and horizontal lines printed in green on the banks themselves. [see Suzuki Juzo, Hiroshige (Tokyo, 1970)]. No other impression is recorded without the diagonal chip to the dark blue water block at the far right.