Koson: Golden eagle
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Ohara Koson (1877-1945)

A golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) sitting on a gnarled bare tree in stormy rain.

Signature and seal: Koson

Publisher: Akiyama Buemon (Kokkeidô), Tokyo

Date: c. 1900-1907

Original Japanese colour woodblock print. Size: Vertical Naga-Ôban, 49,9 x 21,5 cm (overall)

Excellent very crisp impression and excellent colours. Untrimmed, with margin at the left side. Well visible wood grain. Verso slightly toned, at the right side along the margin a little bit lighter*. Faint small brown spot in the sky. Overall very nice condition.

Early and very rare large-sized print. Ill. Reigle Newland/Perrée/Schaap, Crows, Cranes and Camellias, The natural world of Ohara Koson 1877-1945, Leiden/Boston 2010, 184, K13.1. Cf. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Perrée Collection, No. RP-P-2005-466; cf. also Smithsonian, Muller Coll., S2003.8.1960.
For these earliest woodblock prints by Koson, printed by the Tokyo publisher Akiyama Buemon (company name and seal Kokkeidô) in a harmonious, muted colour palette and in the highest quality, cf. Amy Reigle Newland in Crows, Cranes and Camellias, p. 18f and * ibid., p. 36 on the toning found in these prints, often with lighter margins: "The fact that many impressions are toned "is an unexplained feature".

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