Posted by Peter (213.84.198.104) on January 27, 2006 at 20:13:49:
In Reply to: Re: Watanabe Gift seal - relevance ?? posted by Marc Kahn on January 27, 2006 at 15:28:50:
Marc,
Thanks for your reply!
Congratulations on the original painting by Hiroshi Yoshida.
It is, of course, a unicum and should (all other things being considered) be priced conversely with the prints at that gallery where you bought it. They (the prints) being - by their nature - NOT unica, magnificeint though the may well be.
Paintings by "woodblock artists" don't seem to cut the mustard with collectors.
And that I truly cannot fathom.
Yes - I do have a print with the "gift" seal.
It's a Kasamatsu "Late Autumn at Imai Bridge".
No I'm not trying to sell it.
But I am trying to date it and this, meagre as it is, is what I have so far:
Originally 1939, but later (e.g. 1950's) copies are not uncommon.
Some editions have a round 6mm seal - some don't.
Some have writings in the LEFT margin as well as the right margins.
Correction! "Heuston - the penny has dropped" ---- "The writings" on the left margin are likely one of the elongated Watanabe "C" seal (so-called "Sausage Seal") again: it's too small to see properly.
That also ties in with the example in question being an acclaimed 1939 print ...
:-)
Anyway, getting back to the "gift" seal.
I think it is yet another puzzle sent to make my curiosity suffer.
Why they didn't simply use the "appropriate" stamp for the period in which the print was printed is in no way clear to me: the print is neither exceptional in printing quality nor is it any lesser. It looks in every way similar to those in the archive at Artelino and even has the small printer "blobs" in the concentric rings in the water....
Thanks and
best regards.
Peter