Yoshitoshi: Antiquities Dealer Spotting Fakes (Sold)

Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Title: Antiquities Dealer Spotting Fakes
Series: “Postal News” (Yûbin hôchi shinbun)
Date: 1875

Number 466a from a newspaper supplement that we might compare to the modern “News of the World”. The Yubin hochi shinbun was a newspaper founded in mid-1873, and Yoshitoshi was hired in 1875 to provide full-color nishiki-e prints as supplements (furoku) for subscribers. As with modern newspapers, crime and ghost stories feature prominently. Here we see Nishimura, a well-known dealer in Fukagawa, exposing the charlatan who tried to sell him statuettes of the god Daikoku in the autumn of 1874. The dealer is shown with eyeglasses, peering with authority and skepticism at figurines held by the man in a dark cloak who clearly seems to be of poor character. The dealer has his tea set beside him and an andon (lamp) to his left. He is reading a large printed newspaper of some kind.

Condition: Excellent impression and color; very good condition. Some wrinkling.
Dimensions: ôban (36.6 x 24.8 cm)
Publisher: Kinshodo
Literature: Keyes 315.8.
Seal: Yoshitoshi
Signature: Taiso Yoshitoshi

SKU: YOT771