Mid-Edo Painted Shunga Handscroll, Twelve Scenes with Gold and Silver, 551 cm, in Wooden Box
Mid-Edo Painted Shunga Handscroll, Twelve Scenes with Gold and Silver, 551 cm, in Wooden Box
- Dispatch
- Prepared and sent from Tokyo within 7–14 days, often sooner, or as arranged
- Arrival
- United States · usually 4–7 days after dispatch, insured and tracked Check the Shipping Flowchart here
- Import
Duties and customs · View the estimate
A guide for this piece: about $1,839, based on the 10% US charge on the declared value of goods made in Japan.
The final figure is set by US Customs and depends on where the piece was made and the kind of object it is. Many antiques over a century old carry no ordinary duty; most jewellery and leather goods add a single-digit rate.
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- Character
- Resplendent 8.6 of 10 ·
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- Within one Tokyo business day · Ask the curator team
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- Authenticity guaranteed · How we grade
Every piece is measured by hand, in centimetres as Japan measures. Please allow 1–2 cm (about ½ inch) for the give of the material and the hand that held the tape.
Where each figure is taken · View the plate
Object, sculpture and ceramics
Condition report
Very Good
- Giftable
- Mint
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Honest Wear
- As Found
Twelve Scenes in Silk and Gold
The painter set each couple on an island of patterned robes and let the textiles carry the colour, with gold and silver catching the light as the scroll turns. Painted shunga scrolls described as this early are far scarcer than the late Edo examples. It is a private theatre meant to be unrolled one scene at a time.
Best for: Collectors of Edo painting and painted erotic scrolls
Condition notes
Fine surface soiling and creasing consistent with age; light wear to the mounting.
Grades, ratings and commentary are given to the best of our ability, knowledge and experience, and condition remains partly a matter of personal perception. What we stand behind without qualification is authenticity, truthful description and provenance, to the best of our knowledge. How we grade
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A painted shunga handscroll in rich colour heightened with gold and silver, twelve scenes unrolling across more than five and a half metres, described as a work of the middle Edo period.
The Piece
The handscroll was the most private of Japanese formats, unrolled section by section so that each scene appeared in turn. Here twelve couples are set on islands of sumptuous bedding and discarded robes against a plain ground. The painter lavished attention on the textiles: court garments in striped layers, maple leaves and roundels, ochre damask, and passages of gold and silver that catch the light as the scroll turns.
Most painted shunga scrolls that reach the market date from the late Edo period. This one is described as earlier, and its spare, courtly settings recall the classical manner of the eighteenth century. It is unsigned; a red seal is impressed at the head of the first scene, and the painter remains unidentified.
Details
- Format: handscroll (makimono, emaki)
- Genre: shunga
- Scenes: twelve
- Medium: ink and colour with gold and silver
- Date: described as middle Edo period
- Artist: unsigned; a red seal at the opening
- Dimensions: approx. 29.3 x 551 cm (11.5 x 216.9 in)
- Mounting: gold-flecked borders, gold frontispiece, silvered roller, tie cord
- Outer cover: gold-patterned brocade
- Box: fitted wooden box
Measured by hand; please allow a gentle margin of about 1 to 2 cm (0.5 in).
Condition
- Fine surface soiling and creasing consistent with age.
- Light wear to the mounting.
- The coins seen in some photographs are not part of the piece.
- Every photograph is part of the description.
Condition grade B (very good, light wear) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
The dating is given as described, not as a certainty. Unroll on a clean, flat surface, never fully at once, and store rolled in the box away from light and damp.
Delivery from Japan
Shipped rolled in its own box, packed by hand in discreet outer packaging, insured and tracked by EMS or an equivalent express service. Import duties and taxes, where applicable, are payable on arrival. Every sale is final; please ask anything you wish to know before you buy, and see our published policy.
Considered offers are welcome through Send an Offer, and each one is reviewed personally. Continue to Shunga and Hidden Arts or browse Japanese Scrolls and Byobu Screens.
Concierge
Seeking a particular painted handscroll or an Edo erotic painting? Our Hunting Salon™ locates it across Japan's private collector circles, then inspects, documents and delivers it to you. Begin a Hunting Salon™ request.
Collectors also search: painted shunga emaki · Edo erotic handscroll · shunga makimono with gold
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