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 approx. 26.2 x 20.4 cm or reverse. One with an oval violet distributor’s stamp on the reverse: “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 additional print numbered “263”. A cohesive group of Meiji-period export photographs depicting women in kimono in formal portraits and in carefully composed scenes of music, tea drinking, and Go. The hand-coloring is remarkably delicate, adding subtle accents to textiles, hair ornaments, furnishings, and painted screens while preserving the soft tonal modeling of the albumen prints. Such photographs were produced for the international souvenir market, presenting Japanese dress, domestic interiors, and refined pastimes in a composed, decorative visual language. – Overall, there are light handling marks, slight curling, and scattered surface spotting; one print has more pronounced discoloration and surface irregularities on the reverse, but is otherwise in good condition.