SHIMURA -- "Playing Battledore and Shuttlecock" (#6)

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Artist SHIMURA Tatsumi (1907-80)
Title "Playing Battledore and Shuttlecock" ("Oibane")
Date 1953 (Limited edition of 200 prints)
Provenance A recent Tokyo find via dealer contact.
Series "Five Figures of Modern Beauties"
("Gendai Bijin Fuzoku Gotai")
Publisher Nihon Hanga Kenkyusho (Kato Junji) (Tokyo, 1930-53)
Seal, Carver/Printer Nakagawa/Onodera (active c1940-c55, Tokyo)
Image Size 10 x 14 7/8 (plus wide margins)
Impression Very Fine. Skillfully over-printed hairlines; superb "bokashi" (gradation of colors) shading to face; light "gauffrage" to flowers worn in hair; gold metallic pigments atop red-petaled flowers of kimono; highly detailed carving. Large, deeply embossed "kanji title" in center bottom margin.
Condition Excellent.
(No flaws noted.)
Reference/Illus "The Female Image," Plate #259.
Comments A delightful, technical masterpiece--one of a lifetime total of 5 "bijin-ga" images (all 1953). Published only once, as a small limited edition (200 copies) in the early-1950's by Nihon Hanga Kenkyusho Publisher (Kato Junji) of Tokyo. Rarely seen. Roach: "His prints are technical marvels." (Learn more.)
Item # DG-649
Price $1950