THREE JAPANESE HANDPAINTED INSTRUCTIONAL MANUALS

THREE JAPANESE HANDPAINTED INSTRUCTIONAL MANUALS
EDO AND MEIJI, DATED 1796 AND 1894

The first with a title slip reading Katchū Jitsuden (True Stories of the Armour), comprising numerous illustrations in ink, colour and gofūn on paper, depicting samurai putting on armours, and with instructions on how to assemble a rokugu (six-part armour); the last page dated the autumn of Kansei 8 (1796), signed Kondō Yasuhiro/Tomohiro Asaoka-sai Sōdō (Kondō Yasuhiro/Tomohiro, in a grass hut in Asaoka - possibly in Minato City, Tokyo), 27.5cm x 19cm; the two other albums dedicated to ikebana (flower arrangement), with illustrations and text in ink on paper, the last pages of each album dated January, Meiji 27 (1894), and signed Suzuki-sai Issui, 26.6cm x 19.6cm. (3)

Provenance: from the Estate of a Collector, Heath House, Hampshire, and thence by descent. By repute, acquired in Asia at the turn of the 19th century.