100 Views of Edo # 21 Deluxe 1st Edition by Ando Hiroshige

Additional Pictures: Artist: Ando Utagawa Hiroshige (1787-1858)

Woodblock Print Title: Mount Atago, Shiba (Shiba Atagoyama), from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)

1st Publication: August 1857

Size: Oban: 8 5/8" x 13 5/8" (21.9 x 34.2 cm)

Date of this edition: August 1857, 1st edition

Publisher: Uoya Eikichi

Condition: Trimmed to the margins on the lower, and upper side of the print, partially on the right and left side, affecting the seals. Small restored pin holes. Very good colors and impression.

Notes: Very rare 1st edition with 3 colors in the title cartouche. Deluxe edition with Mica in the background area. Usually, this technique was reserved for good customer or prestigious people, as the technology was fairly new, expensive and difficult to master.

More about this print: Hiroshige dramatically interrupts this view from Mount Atago in the district of Shiba southwest of Edo with a figure holding an immense rice paddle. The inscription over the artist's signature to the left identifies the figure as the central actor in the "Heaping Rice Ceremony" performed at the Atago Shrine on the third day of the New Year. In real life, this man was the proprietor of the Atagoya teahouse at the top of Mount Atago. Here however he is dressed in an elaborate costume emblematic of the New Year and of prayers for its bounty.

Pictures: Pictures are taken outdoor, in the shade, to reflect true colors, without any enhancements of any kind. The last picture is taken indoor, with a light behind the print, to reveal the exact paper grain, holes if any, or other possible flaws.