Artist: Suzuki Harunobu (鈴木春信, c. 1725–1770) Title: Two courtesans with haiku, from Ehon Seirō Bijin Awase 絵本青楼美人合 (Picture Book of Beauties of the Green Houses) Technique: Woodblock print, full colour (nishiki-e), book illustration Date: Japan, 1770 (Meiwa 7), Edo period Format: Two single pages from the bound book, offered together; together approx. [22 × 26 cm] _______________________________________________________ Condition These prints have many issues including mild soiling, fading and toning! Please check the images carefully before bidding! Sold as Antique! _______________________________________________________ About the print Ehon Seirō Bijin Awase is Harunobu's largest work and one of the finest colour-printed books of the Edo period. It appeared in 1770, the year of his death. Harunobu was the leading artist of the Meiwa era and played a key role in the arrival of full-colour woodblock printing in the mid-1760s. The British Museum, citing Lawrence Smith, describes the book as one of the earliest masterpieces of the full colour-printed woodblock book in Japan. The five volumes portray 166 courtesans of the Yoshiwara, Edo's licensed pleasure quarter. Each page shows one courtesan, together with her name, the house where she worked and a haiku. The volumes are arranged by the season of their poems: cherry blossoms, the cuckoo, the moon, autumn leaves and snow. Harunobu's name does not appear in the colophon, but the preface mentions him, and the book has always been attributed to him. These two pages come from a disbound copy of the book. Sheets from Seirō Bijin Awase are held by the British Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the National Diet Library in Tokyo.