Lot 86: Taigado gafu (Picture album of Taiga)

Ike no Taiga (1723-1776)
Taigado gafu (Picture album of Taiga)
An album of pictures based on paintings by Ike no Taiga (1723-1776); preface signed Kotei rojin Minamoto Shien sen and dated Kyowa 3 (1803), eleventh month; orihon, 1 vol., woodblock printed in color, pale brown paper wrappers, title slip printed as above--very good impression and color, some worm holes
Contents: 33 leaves unnumbered, 1 p. blank, 6 pp. preface signed and dated as above and with two seals, 1 double-page calligraphy, 22 double-page illustrations of landscapes and figures, 3 pp. postface signed Kyuka Sansho sha, sealed Ike no Arina and Kyuka Sanjin, 1 p. postface signed Shinryu and sealed Geppo, 2pp. postface signed Tosho, sealed Kai no in and Chuzo, and dated Mizunoe-i (1803) eighth month, 4 pp. postface signed Minagawa Gen sho, sealed Minagawa Gen and Hakkyo uji and dated Kyowa 3 Mizunoe-i (1803), colophon inscribed Higashiyama Taigado zohan (blocks owned by Taigado in Higashiyama) and sealed in red Taigado shozo ki (Seal of the Taigado collection)
30 x 19.4cm.

The Taigado gafu is among the rarest and most poetic of Nanga printed albums. The copyists were selecting from various scrolls painted by Taiga, but one in the Hosokawa Collection, Tokyo, is almost certainly the model on which this album was based.

For another impression, see Jack Hillier, The Japanese Picture Book: A selection from the Ravicz Collection (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1991), pls. 5, 8, and no.6, pp. 20--21.