Eiri Chôkyôsai
CHÔKYÔSAI, EIRI
active 1789-1801
attributed
Title: 13 prints of the shunga series "Fumi no kiyogaki".
Origin: Japan.
Dynasty: Edo period.
Censorship/Date: 1801.
Technique: Nishiki-e.
Measurement: Ôban, yoko-e.
Series: Fumi no kiyogaki (Neat Version of a Love Letter).
Description: The complete series of 13 pictures is attributed to Chôkyôsai Eiri, a little-known student
of Hosoda Eishi (1756-1829). The series contains references to well-known Shunga woodblock
prints (spring pictures) by the famous Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806). One scene of the
album shows a well-dressed European, who is surely an elderly Dutch merchant, with a
courtesan from Nagasaki. Both are heavily dressed for winter, but she leans out of an open
window in western style, suggesting that they are on the East India Company compound on
Dejima Island. She is elegantly scented with burning incense.
Frame: Framed (each 55.5 x 43.8cm).
Provenance:
-Kunsthandel Klefisch. Auction 84, Sept. 23, 2006, lot 96.
-Colletion Prof. Thomas Olbricht.
Literature:
-Buckland, Rosina: "Shunga: Erotic Art in Japan", 2010, pp. 110-112.
-Lane, Richard: "Eiri, Loveletters, Love Consumated: Fumi no Kiyogaki, No. 9", 1996, ill. pp. 12-37.
Arrangement after the auction.
