Description
This is an original ukiyo-e from the Meiji period (1868-1912) depicting a genre scene in springtime, with geisha girls in the foreground accompanied by a samurai as they repair the roof of a “minka” (house).
Format: vertical oban.
Size: 47 x 34.5 cm
Signed by Yoshu Chikanobu (1838-1912), also known as Toyohara Chikanobu, was a Japanese painter and printmaker widely regarded as a prolific ukiyo-e artist during the Meiji period. Chikanobu signed his artworks as “Yoshu Chikanobu” but his real name was Hashimoto Naoyoshi.
Many of his early works were signed as “Yoshu Chikanobu’s studio”, and also a small number of his early creations as “Yoshu”.
The portrait of the Meiji Emperor now held by the British Museum is inscribed “drawn by Yoshu Chikanobu” by special request of the Emperor.
