KORYŪSAI (1735-1790). Two egrets. (Sold)

KORYŪSAI (1735-1790). Two egrets. (Sold)

Artist: Attributed to Isoda Koryūsai (1735-1790)
Subject: A pair of egrets (sagi) in the water near the shore among aquatic plants and reeds. 
The white body of the two birds outlined with fine embossing.
Signature: Unsigned
Date: ca. 1770
Size: Chūban tate-e, 26,7x19,2 cm.
Medium: Woodblock color print with blind printing
Literature: Illustrated in our catalog "Japanese Prints 1770-1810" New Acquisitions - June 2023", no. 2. Other impressions are illustrated in Sakata Yaichirō and Yoshida Teruji (eds). Ukiyo-e Taisei. 12 voll. Tokyo: Toho shoin, 1930-1, vol. 4, no. 128. Margareth O. Gentles. The Clarence Buckingham collection of Japanese Prints Volume II, Harunobu, Koryusai, Shigemasa, their 
followers and contemporaries. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1965, p. 227, no.103. Charles Vignier et Hogitarō Inada. Estampes japonaises. Estampes japonaises primitive, Harunobu - Koryusai - Shunsho - Kiyonaga - Buncho - Sharaku. Tomes I - III. Paris: Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 1909. 
Reprinted Geneva: Minkoff Reprint, 1973, plate XLIV ,no. 434. Narazaki Muneshige (editor). Ukiyo-e masterpieces in European collections. 12 voll. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1988-90 , vol. 6 (Musée Guimet), plate no. 75 (attributed also to Harunobu).
Remarks: Koryūsai made a notable contribution to the relatively small genre of flowers and birds prints (kachō-ga), having designed about 180 prints depicting birds and various other animals. The heron among the reeds, a popular subject in Japanese painting, was later also recurring in the work of the most prolific designer of kacho-ga, Utagawa Hiroshige.
Conditions: Fine impression, colour and conditions.
Item no: H 95
Status: Sold