Paper size
13.3 x 10.3 cm
Original Date
1929
Edition Date
1929
Carver/printer
Azechi Umetaro / Azechi Umetaro
Description
Ido no aru fûkei (井戸のある風景) - Landscape with watering place, self-printed in 1929. Paper sizes: 15 x 16.3 cm and 19.7 x 13.3 cm, image size: 13.3 x 10.3 cm. One of Azechi's earliest prints to quote Helen Merritt: "he began making prints by scratching on scraps of lead plate which he then inked and printed by using a teacup as a baren." The technique is known as namari toppan 鉛凸版, lead relief printing. Which of the two is earlier is hard to say. The colours are hand applied. VERY RARE !
Condition
Fine impression and colours, good condition: The one on the thin blue paper is in fine shape, but the other one was obviously printed on the wrong sort of paper (smooth, thin and onion-skin-like), which split in the middle and in various places in the bottom margin (the teacup used to exert pressure can't have helped either!). The repair in the image was carefully done.
