Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木 春信 (Japanese, 1725-1770)
Woman Digging Bamboo Shoots in the Snow, or, Parody of Meng Zong (Mōsō)

A very rare woodblock print, first e-goyomi state, Edo period, circa 1765, a mitate-e of the Moso subject depicting a girl digging bamboo shoots with a mattock in the snow, amongst the bamboo leaves are some outlined examples which form the numerals of the 'long months' of Meiwa 2, corresponding to 1765, vertical chuban, from the series 'Twenty-Four Paragons of Filial Piety', with collector's seals Wakai, Hayashi, and Vever, trimmed, with an added later-painted strip continuing the image, mounted in a glazed frame

(Quantity:1)

Dimensions: 17.4cm x 27cm

Collection of Hayashi Tadamasa (1856-1906), with collector's seal;

Collection of Wakai Kanesaburo (1834-1908), with collector's seal Wakai Oyaji;

Hotel Drouot, Paris, 'Dessins, estampes, livres illustrés du Japon réunis par T. Hayashi', 1902, no.384, and illustrated p.168;

Collection of Henri Vever (1854–1942), with collector's stamp 'HV';

Offered in Sotheby's London, 'Catalogue of Highly Important Japanese Prints, Illustrated Books and Drawings from the Henri Vever Collection: Part II', 26th March 1975, lot 43, but withdrawn;

Sotheby's London, 'Fine Japanese Prints, Drawings and Paintings', Sotheby's London, 22nd March 1978, lot 47;

Private collection, UK

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Hayashi Tadamasa and Wakai Kanesaburo were influential figures in Japoniste circles of fin-de-siècle Paris, and together they formed a partnership as the Wakai-Hayashi company selling Japanese woodblock prints. Their clients included Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, amongst many others.

Henri Vever was regarded as one of the most distinguished jewellers of his time, as well as the archetypal collector. By the 1880s, Vever was amongst the earliest Europeans to formally collect Japanese prints. He bought extensively from Hayashi Tadamasa and was a member of Les Amis de l’Art Japonais, a clique of art enthusiasts, including Claude Monet, who met regularly to discuss Japanese works of art.

In the catalogue 'Japanese Prints & Drawings from the Vever Collection, which the present lot is published in vol.1, no.95, the author Jack Hillier states that 'Important...as the only surviving impression (so far as can be traced) of the first e-goyomi state of this beautiful print.'