Hiroshige: White Rooster, Morning Glories and Umbrella (contact for price)

Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige
Title: White Rooster, Morning Glories and Umbrella
Date: ca early 1830s

Scarce kacho-e  (bird-and-flower picture) of a rooster posed in front of a partly closed traditional Japanese umbrella and opened morning glories. We are fortunate that John T Carpenter has translated this poem, as there is an example of this print in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art: “When the cock crows, it means we must part, where, at the crack of dawn, roosters cannot be heard!” The crow of the rooster was a sign that the night was ending, and in Edo-era Japan, lovers who must meet in secret would need to part at dawn to go about their normal lives. This rooster has blindprinting in the white plumage, a scarce effect in Hiroshige prints.

Hiroshige specialized in kacho-e, bird-and-flower pictures.

Condition: Very good impression and condition. Good color.
Dimensions: 38.1 x 17.2 cm
Literature: See Metropolitan Museum of Art, MFA, Chazen, Ôta kinen bijutsukan, Hiroshige kachôga ten (1997), #11 (different edition); RISD, Yomigaeru bi (1990), #73; Hizô Ukiyo-e taikan 11, Museo d'Arte Orientale, Genoa, II (1989), fig. 144; Ukiyo-e shûka 14 (1981), Hiroshige list, p. 241, ôtanzaku #3.3.
Seal: Artist's seal of Ichiryusai
Signature: Hiroshige hitsu

SKU: HIC010C