Shunjo Ause Kagami, Late Edo Period Japanese Shunga Harubon, Erotic Art Gold-Printed Colour Woodblock Ukiyoe Book, Three Pocket Volumes
Shunjo Ause Kagami, Late Edo Period Japanese Shunga Harubon, Erotic Art Gold-Printed Colour Woodblock Ukiyoe Book, Three Pocket Volumes
- 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 $445, 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.
How the estimate is reached · Ask for a figure on this piece
- Character
- Resplendent 8.5 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
Object, sculpture and ceramics
Condition report
Very Good
- Giftable
- Mint
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Honest Wear
- As Found
A Mirror for Every Meeting
Each scene of this pocket book is named after a different mirror, a word game in the true enpon spirit. Gold printing and dense pattern make the tiny pages feel lavish. Complete three-volume sets in their wrapper are a pleasure to find.
Best for: Collectors of shunga, Edo woodblock books and miniature books
Condition notes
Title slips of the first and third volumes missing; otherwise clean, no worm damage noted, light wear to wrapper and edges.
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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Shunjo Ause Kagami, a late Edo shunga book in three pocket volumes, printed in colour woodblock with touches of gold, offered as a complete set in a marbled paper wrapper.
The Piece
The title plays on the mirror, kagami, and every scene carries a mirror-shaped cartouche naming a different glass: a jewelled mirror, a moon-viewing mirror, a double-sided mirror. It is a witty conceit in the true enpon tradition, where word games framed the pictures. The text is credited to a gesaku writer under the comic pen name Itsukado Injin; the artist is unsigned, and the drawing follows the Utagawa school of the period.
For so small a format the printing is remarkably rich. Court ladies with long hair in orange robes, a frontispiece of a lamp and mandarin ducks, a bearded foreign merchant, a comic priest and fashionable townspeople fill rooms of patterned quilts, lattice screens and gold-printed panels. Pocket books like this were made to be hidden, so a clean complete set is welcome.
Details
- Title: Shunjo Ause Kagami
- Text: Credited to Itsukado Injin, a comic pen name
- Artist: Unsigned, Utagawa school manner
- Period: Described as late Edo period
- Format: Small book (kohon), three volumes, stitched Japanese binding
- Printing: Colour woodblock with gold printing
- Cover size: About 10.9 x 8.3 cm (4.3 x 3.3 in)
- Covers: Blue leaf pattern; title slip on the middle volume only
- Wrapper: Marbled paper
Measured by hand; please allow a gentle margin of about 0.5 cm (0.2 in).
Condition
- Title slips of the first and third volumes are missing.
- Otherwise clean and well preserved, with no worm damage noted.
- Small discs seen in some photographs were placed over details for discretion and are not part of the book; clear holders kept the pages open for photography.
Condition grade B (very good, light wear) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
Title and period are as presented to the Desk; no independent appraisal is implied. Keep the volumes in their wrapper, away from light and damp.
Delivery from Japan
Packed flat by hand in Japan in a rigid carton and shipped discreetly, 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. More awaits in The Private Room and in our essay on shunga.
Concierge
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