Lot 329
Stillfried, Views & Costumes of Japan. Yokohama (ca. 1878).
Estimate
€ 10.000
Starting Price
€ 8.000
Lot:
329
Category:
Geography and work of views
Japan. - (Stillfried-Rattonitz, Raimund von): Views and Costumes of Japan. Yokohama: Stillfried & Andersen (um 1878). 30 x 39,3 cm (Photographs ca.19,5 x 24 cm). With a photographic title page and 100 photographs (50 of which are hand-coloured) mounted on card. Half-leather binding with varnished wooden covers, spine decoration, ornamental gilding on the inner edges and gilt edges; front cover featuring inlaid bird and floral motifs.
(Both covers are cracked; the front cover is secured with adhesive tape; it is scuffed, with small areas of paint flaking, scratch marks, and bumped corners; the wood of the back cover is splintered at the top corner. The endpapers are foxed. The slipcases are slightly browned, corrugated and, for the most part, show some foxing along the top edge. The photographs show moderate signs of age and wear, such as faded edges and minor scuffs.)
See. Thieme/B., S. 52. - A rare, lavishly illustrated volume by the photography pioneer Raimund von Stillfried-Rattonitz (also: Rathenitz; 1839–1911), who ranks among the most influential European photographers in Meiji-era Japan (1868–1912), a period during which the feudal state developed into a modern imperial great power. After studying painting in Vienna and Linz, the Austrian baron undertook extensive travels through China, Japan and America. In 1870, he served as chancellor of the North German legations in Edo and simultaneously acted as a correspondent for the Austrian monarchy. In 1871–1872, he founded his first photographic studio in Yokohama. After taking over the studio ‘F. Beato & Co., Photographers’ in 1877, Stillfried established the Japan Photographic Association together with Hermann Andersen. The photographs collected in the albums produced there shaped the Western image of ‘mysterious, ancient Japan’ for decades, shortly after the country opened up.
The album on offer here documents the rapidly disappearing traditional culture of the late Edo and early Meiji periods. It is typically divided into two thematic groups: character studies and cityscapes, and contains masterfully staged studio portraits of samurai in armour, geishas, wrestlers, priests, merchants and craftsmen. The delicate hand-colouring of the garments testifies to the outstanding quality of the Japanese colourists who worked in Stillfried’s studio. The views depict, amongst others, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Kashiwaya, Odawara, Hakone, Tokyo, Shiba, Asakusa, Nikko, Kobe, Osaka, Kiyomidzo, Ishiyama and Nagasaki, including unspoilt landscapes, temple complexes and street scenes.
(Both covers are cracked; the front cover is secured with adhesive tape; it is scuffed, with small areas of paint flaking, scratch marks, and bumped corners; the wood of the back cover is splintered at the top corner. The endpapers are foxed. The slipcases are slightly browned, corrugated and, for the most part, show some foxing along the top edge. The photographs show moderate signs of age and wear, such as faded edges and minor scuffs.)
See. Thieme/B., S. 52. - A rare, lavishly illustrated volume by the photography pioneer Raimund von Stillfried-Rattonitz (also: Rathenitz; 1839–1911), who ranks among the most influential European photographers in Meiji-era Japan (1868–1912), a period during which the feudal state developed into a modern imperial great power. After studying painting in Vienna and Linz, the Austrian baron undertook extensive travels through China, Japan and America. In 1870, he served as chancellor of the North German legations in Edo and simultaneously acted as a correspondent for the Austrian monarchy. In 1871–1872, he founded his first photographic studio in Yokohama. After taking over the studio ‘F. Beato & Co., Photographers’ in 1877, Stillfried established the Japan Photographic Association together with Hermann Andersen. The photographs collected in the albums produced there shaped the Western image of ‘mysterious, ancient Japan’ for decades, shortly after the country opened up.
The album on offer here documents the rapidly disappearing traditional culture of the late Edo and early Meiji periods. It is typically divided into two thematic groups: character studies and cityscapes, and contains masterfully staged studio portraits of samurai in armour, geishas, wrestlers, priests, merchants and craftsmen. The delicate hand-colouring of the garments testifies to the outstanding quality of the Japanese colourists who worked in Stillfried’s studio. The views depict, amongst others, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Kashiwaya, Odawara, Hakone, Tokyo, Shiba, Asakusa, Nikko, Kobe, Osaka, Kiyomidzo, Ishiyama and Nagasaki, including unspoilt landscapes, temple complexes and street scenes.