Trying to find out any information about these vintage Japanese prints. Does anyone know the subject matter or the artist or possible age? Thanks for any information.
The style is ukiyo-e, which is daily living type scenes. Commonly (originally) made in the 18th and 19th century, but many many prints done later.
looks like they're making scrolls in one of 'em (or maybe their version of practicing the ABC's) which looks so familiar I think I might have a copy of it as well.
Thank You nhbenz for the information. I am still trying to find out a possible value and if they might be originals or just prints. They appear to be pretty old.
Just tidying up some blasts from the past (including some very ancient ones), largely for the benefit of anyone searching the site for information.
Nice, and those are indeed prints. The original paintings were by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Toyohiro (1773–1828). His works include a number of ukiyo-e landscape series, as well as many depictions of the daily activities in the Yoshiwara entertainment quarter.
They’re two from a set of four titled “The Four Accomplishments”. Traditionally, these sets depicted the four skills expected of a scholar: music, painting, calligraphy, and competence in the board game weiqi (which Toyohiro replaced in his painting with the similar game called sugoroku). Also, he shifted the traditional settings in the group from pursuits by scholars to pursuits by courtesans of the entertainment district.
These are prints reproduced from the originals, which are in the Freer Gallery of the Smithsonian, gifted by Charles Lang Freer in the early 1900s: