Japanese Works of Art - 21st May 2019

Lot 269

TWO LARGE JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTS FOR THE GAME OF E-SUGOROKU MEIJI 1868-1912 One depicting a...

Estimate £300 - £500 | Hammer £300

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Description

TWO LARGE JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTS FOR THE GAME OF E-SUGOROKU

MEIJI 1868-1912

One depicting a busy scene of many figures in a tea house, with an oiran in the centre, the other with twenty-two panels containing heroes and other characters from myths, some depicted with their animal attributes, both framed and glazed, 72cm x 59cm and 69.5cm x 71cm respectively. (2)

E-sugoroku is a Japanese board game similar to the Western game of snakes and ladders. The simple rules allowed for endless variations and the printed boards were illustrated with a multitude of themes taken from legends, theatre, politics and shunga.