Mid-Edo Period Shunga Handscroll, Twelve Hand-Painted Scenes in Rich Colour, 587 cm Long
Mid-Edo Period Shunga Handscroll, Twelve Hand-Painted Scenes in Rich Colour, 587 cm Long
- 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 $616, 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.
With EMS, any charge is collected by your postal service on delivery. For pieces of significant value we can often arrange duties prepaid before dispatch.
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- Character
- Ornate 8 of 10 ·
- Replies
- Within one Tokyo business day · Ask the curator team
- Guarantee
- 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
Print, painting and frame
Condition report
Good
- Giftable
- Mint
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Honest Wear
- As Found
A Scroll Read Scene by Scene
A handscroll is shunga at its most theatrical: each scene arrives in turn as the paper is unrolled. The bold, rounded figures and lavish textiles belong to the early flowering of ukiyo-e painting, and the wear of the mount is honest evidence of a long life in private hands.
Best for: Collectors of Edo painting, shunga and Japanese picture scrolls
Condition notes
Outer end worn and torn; tie cord and roller knobs missing. One repair at a paper joint, some creasing and light paint loss in a few scenes.
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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Considered offers only. The Desk replies personally to figures made in good faith; those set far below the asking price receive no reply.
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Twelve intimate scenes painted by hand in rich colour unroll across nearly six metres of this mid-Edo period handscroll.
This piece belongs to the private room of the house and is shown to adults only.
The Piece
The scroll opens quietly: a woman plays the shamisen while a guest sits with his tea, a prelude before the lovers of the following scenes. Couples embrace on quilts of flame red, saffron and checked yellow, their robes patterned with bellflowers, peonies and waves. The figures are drawn in the full, rounded manner of early ukiyo-e painting.
Read from right to left, a handscroll reveals one scene at a time, which makes it the most theatrical of shunga formats.
Art and Social History
Shunga, spring pictures, were also called makura-e, pillow pictures, and warai-e, laughing pictures, for their humour. Painted handscrolls were costly private objects, heirs to the courtly picture scrolls of earlier centuries.
Details
- Artist: Unrecorded
- Genre: Shunga (makura-e)
- Format: Handscroll (makimono) of twelve scenes
- Medium: Ink and colour, painted by hand
- Period: Mid-Edo, as described
- Mount: Gold-decorated frontispiece; brocade outer cover
- Size: About 32 x 587 cm (12.6 x 231 in)
- Made in: Japan
Measured by hand; please allow a gentle margin of about 1 to 2 cm (0.5 in).
Condition
- The outer end is worn and torn; the tie cord and roller knobs are missing.
- One repair at a paper joint; some creasing, with light paint loss in a few scenes.
- The small discs seen in some photographs were laid over details for discretion and are not part of the work.
Condition grade C (good) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
Offered as a hand-painted mid-Edo handscroll by an unrecorded painter; no signature or seal is claimed. Store loosely rolled, away from sun and damp, and unroll one section at a time.
Delivery from Japan
Rolled in acid-free tissue inside a rigid case and shipped 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. Further pieces of the kind are kept in Shunga and Hidden Arts and among our scrolls and screens.
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