A perspective print of a diving woman retrieving the jewel from the (undersea) dragon palace.
Artist: Okumura Masanobu ( 1686 - 1764 )
Signed: Hogetsudo Okumura Bunkaku Masanobu Shohitsu
Date: ca. 1740
Format: o-oban ( large oban ); Woodblock print with hand-applied color and nikawa.
Dimensions: 12 3/4'' x 17 3/4''
Condition: Full margins, slight creasing from folds, small piece missing from the bottom left margin, minor repairs.
Comment: There are only two recorded impressions known to us other than this one, and they are both trimmed inside the black line losing all of the information. One in the MFA Boston, # 11.13346 and the other in the Musees Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels, # 4693. Illustrated in Ukiyo-e by Calza, Gian Carlo, # 11.10, pg. 124.
Price upon application.
Masanobu - Retrieving the jewel from the under sea dragon palace.
Search: "Muge Hoju no Tama", the Legend of the Dragon's Palace.
Comment: This subject is one of the more popular legends in Japanese culture. It's known as the recovery of the Muje Hoju no, Tama. Other names for the legend are, The wife of Kamatari escaping across the sea from the dragon's palace with a magic crystal ball, this version by Shigemasa. There are at least two versions known as "The theft of the pearl" (Tamatori Monogatari zu) by Sugimura Jihei. Another version of the story is depicted in twelve paintings mounted as a pair of six-panel screens known as "Scenes from the Taishokan" by unsigned sold in lot 114, Christie's NY 3.22.02.
