Namiwa no bessō akebono no zu – Historic Print
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
Few images capture their era like this historic print of Namiwa no bessō akebono no zu. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.
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Namiwa no bessō akebono no zu
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The Tale of Genji, the early eleventh-century court novel by Murasaki Shikibu, was among the most frequent literary sources for Edo-period print designers, and this 1855 triptych belongs to that tradition. Its title refers to dawn, which points to a morning scene, a moment the novel often treats with quiet tenderness. Printed across three vertical sheets in the oban format, the composition emphasizes women's clothing and the relations between the sexes, as the record's subject terms note. Late Edo prints like this one often functioned as fashion images as much as literary illustrations.
| Created / published | 1855 |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 print (3 sheets) : woodcut, color ; 35.6 x 24.4 cm (left panel), 36.6 x 24.5 cm (center panel), 36.6 x 24.4 cm (right panel) |
| Genre | Triptychs Japanese 1850-1860.Ukiyo-e Japanese Color 1850-1860.Woodcuts Japanese Color 1850-1860. |
| Notes | Title and other descriptive information compiled by Nichibunken-sponsored Edo print specialists in 2005-06. Triptych matted in 3 sections: left (2218a), center (2218b), right (2218c). Format: vertical Oban Nishikie triptych, Genji-e. Forms part of: Japanese prints and drawings (Library of Congress). |
| Subjects | Women--Clothing & dress--Japan--1850-1860. Relations between the sexes--Japan--1850-1860. Sunrises & sunsets--Japan--1850-1860. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 3,596 × 4,512 px · prints to 12 × 15 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-221911 |
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