Description

A very unusual album of good quality comprising a complete set of 16 images relating to Japanese funeral ceremonies. The style, technique, and the use of watercolours is reminiscent of the studio of Kawahara Keiga (1786- ca.1862). Very little is known of his later life but there is some evidence that he moved to Yokohama or Edo during the 1850s to set up a studio catering to foreign visitors. It also bears strong similarities to the illustrations in Silver’s “Sketches of Japanese Manners and Customs” (London, 1867).