Hokusai: Making love on a winter's day
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Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

A couple making love on a winter's day, nestled close together. A colourfully patterned blanket covers their legs, on top of which lies a book, another book has slipped down. The couple were certainly stimulated by the contents of the - likely - erotic books. Calligraphed text above the couple.

From the album: Ehon Tsuhi no Hinagata (Illustrated Patterns of Lovers)

Edo, c. 1812-1814

Original Japanese colour woodblock print. Size: Horizontal Ôban, 25 x 37.5 cm

Very nice and early impression in very good colours, with metallic pigments. The usual vertical centrefold, smoothed. A little smudged in bottom corners, small wormholes in upper corners, else very good condition. Rare.

Very well documented because of the importance of this series by the great master Hokusai:
Jack Hillier, The Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration, London 1980, pp. 166-169, no. 143. Hayashi Yoshikazu/Richard Lane, The Complete Ukiyo-e Shunga, vol. 13, Hokusai and the Tsuhi no hinagata (Ukiyo-e Shunga Meihin Shusei 13 Hokusai: Tsuhi no hinagata), Tokyo 1997. Chris Uhlenbeck/Margarita Winkel, Japanese Erotic Fantasies, Amsterdam 2005, pp. 157-f. Rosina Buckland, Shunga, Erotic Art in Japan, The British Museum Collection, London 2010, pp. 136 ff. Cf. also Musée Guimet, Paris, no. MA 6201; British Museum, no. OA+,0.141.1-11/ JIB.687

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