Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) | The Hanging-cloud Bridge at Mount Gyodo near Ashikaga (Ashikaga Gyodozan Kumo no kakehashi) | Edo period, 19th century

拍品描述

PROPERTY FROM THE PULVERER COLLECTION OF JAPANESE PRINTS woodblock print, from the series Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces (Shokoku meikyo kiran), signed Saki no Hokusai Iitsu hitsu (Brush of Iitsu, the former Hokusai), censor’s seal kiwame (approved), published by Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudo), circa 1834, 1st state; with collector's seal of Gerhard Pulverer to verso Horizontal oban: 38.6 x 26.3., 15¼ by 10⅜ in. Hokusai returned to the subject of bridges throughout his career. Between 1816-17, he depicted various types of bridges in the fourth volume of Hokusa’s Sketches (Hokusai manga), and also produced a large-format print One Hundred Bridges at a Glance in 1823. He was commissioned to make this series by his publisher Nishimuraya Yohachi in around the spring of 1834, following the success of his Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki-meguri) published a year earlier. The series comprises a total of eleven prints - a rather unusual number for a print series, suggesting perhaps that a print was either added to an original set of ten; or that twelve were intended and only eleven were produced.1 In each of the designs, the expanse of the bridges provide counterpoint to grand views of nature and a sense of wonder embellishes many of the scenes depicted. Two of the bridges were no longer extant during the time of production; using earlier material from eighteenth century gazetteers, as well as local pictures, Hokusai accentuated key features of the bridges to depict not just actual bridges, but awe-inspiring views. Many of the bridges and locales had strong literary associations, such as the Eight-plank Bridge (Yatsuhashi) of Mikawa (see Lot 214), the semi-historical bridge that zigzagged over irises in the Tale of Ise (Ise monogatari); and the Pontoon Bridge at Sanno (see Lot 209), which was made famous in the medieval Noh play of eponymous title Funabashi, or ‘Boat Bridge’.2 Mountain mists coil around this breathtaking view of a wooden bridge spanning a mountain pass at Gyodozan, north-west of Ashikaga in Shimotsuke province. The bridge connects the Joinji Temple with a small tea-room pavilion perched precariously atop a rocky outcrop. Stone markers to the right of the footpath delineate the temple precincts. In early impressions, the white band of mist is clearly rendered against a finely gradated sky, with the distant mountain peak overprinted in blue and the central rocks shifting from green at the base to yellowish-brown at the summit.3 1. Timothy Clark, ed., Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave (London, 2017), pp. 154-161. 2. ibid. 3. Matthi Forrer, Hokusai: Prints and Drawings (London, 1991), cat. no. 37.

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