Artist: Yōshū Chikanobu 楊洲周延 (1838–1912), real name Hashimoto Naoyoshi; Title: 女禮式之内 婚禮之圖 — Onna reishiki no uchi: Konrei no zu. Subject: Nichiro kōsen zuga (日露交戦図画, "Pictures of the Russo-Japanese War"), No. 4 (其四) Format: Ōban triptych — three sheets, each ca. 36 × 24 cm Technique: Nishiki-e (full-colour woodblock print) on hōsho paper Date: 1893 (Meiji 26), April Publisher: Fukuda ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Condition: Strong impression with colours very well preserved. The paper has a light backing, minor toning, minor soiling, and the central sheet has a bit more trimming than the other two. The whole composition is well preserved and the prints are presentable. Please refer to the images for full detail! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- About the print A bride is walked to her wedding by candlelight. She occupies the centre sheet in full shiromuku — the all-white bridal robe — with a black obi and her hair dressed with coral and pale blue ornaments, flanked by married women in deep red and black patterned kimono who steady her as she moves. Attendants carry pink bonbori hand lanterns at the left and right, and a standing floor lantern marks the way: the procession is an evening one, and Chikanobu builds the whole design around that quiet, lit interior. At the right the party passes a display table set for a wedding. The two small figures on it are Jō and Uba, the aged couple of the Takasago legend who grew old together and stand for fidelity and long life; Jō's rake handle rests on his shoulder, and a tortoise sits near his feet. Cranes fly above the pine-and-plum bonsai behind them. Every object on that table is a wish for the marriage, and a Meiji viewer would have read it instantly. The Onna Reishiki designs were Chikanobu's take on the etiquette manuals that circulated widely in the 1880s and 90s, instructing upper-class women on how to conduct themselves at weddings, tea, and formal visits. In practice they worked as fashion plates as much as manuals, and the appeal here is the same: the restraint of the white bridal robe set against the dense floral and kanoko patterning of the attendants' kimono, printed with the crisp registration and rich Meiji reds Chikanobu is collected for. The wedding subject is among the most attractive of the group, and complete triptychs are less common than broken single sheets.