4055 - Japan

Japan Photographers: Esaki Reiji (1845-1910), Shin-e-do, Kobe (active ca. 1894-1901). Japanese genre scenes and portraits. 1890s. 5 hand-colored albumen prints. Each ca. 26,2 x 20,4 cm or reverse. One with oval violet distributor’s stamp on verso: “PHOTOGRAPH DEPOT / SHIN-E-DO / KOBE JAPAN”; two captioned and numbered in the negatives: “1609 PLAYING GO” and “1517 GIRLS PLAYING KOTO AND SAMISEN”; one further print numbered “263”. A cohesive group of Meiji-period export photographs, depicting women in kimono in a formal portrait and in carefully composed scenes of music, tea drinking and Go. The hand-coloring is remarkably delicate, reserving subtle accents for textiles, hair ornaments, furnishings and painted screens while preserving the soft tonal modelling of the albumen prints. Such photographs were made for the international souvenir market, presenting Japanese dress, domestic interiors and cultivated pastimes in a composed, decorative visual language. – Overall with light handling marks, slight curling and scattered surface spotting; one print with more pronounced discoloration and surface irregularities on the verso, otherwise in good condition.