100 Views of Edo # 108 deluxe 1st Edition by Ando Hiroshige

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

Woodblock Print Title: View of Shiba Coast (Shibaura no fûkei), from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)

1st Publication: February 1856

Size: Vertical ôban; 35.9 x 24.6 cm (14 1/8 x 9 11/16 in.)

Date of this edition: July 1856, 1st edition

Publisher: Uoya Eikichi

Condition: Trimmed to the margins on the lower, upper and left side of the print, affecting the seals. Very good colors and impression.

Notes: Very rare 1st edition of this print. Deluxe edition with Mica in the river bank 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: As one of the very first prints produced in the series, this image of the Shiba coast along Edo Bay provides early evidence of the distinctive type of composition found later in the series, in which a cut-off section of an enlarged foreground element is set against a distant landscape. We can see the artist working toward a clear division of the foreground and background elements into different spaces. However, the space of the large A-frame channel marker in the foreground is still read as continuous with the background, particularly because of the second marker in the distance. As a result, the boats on the right seem strangely dwarfed in size. The presence of the seal of the carver, Hori-Sen, in the lower left corner confirms the image's early date. After only three prints, the carver's seal was excluded from the series

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.