Ichiryusai Hiroshige Tile

Chidori, “plovers” flying against a full moon over breaking waves. This chu-tanzaku is one of Hiroshige’s best known kacho-e, and seems to have been highly regarded at the time, as there are at least three other variants: One version, also published by Sanoki, is illustrated in Japanese Prints, James A Michener, Charles E Tuttle & Co, 1959, no. 226 (with another impression in Tamba, The Art of Hiroshige, no. 411); another, without publisher, is illustrated in Sotheby’s sale catalogue 25/1/1978, lot 117; and a third, also without publisher and lacking moon, is illustrated in Hiroshige, Birds and Flowers, George Braziller, 1988, no. 32.