The Japanese prints spoils of a seasoned bidder

Ruth Nelkin of Stamford, Connecticut, and New York bought antiques across a wide variety of different disciplines from Fabergé to French art glass. However, her primary passion was for ukiyo-e, the Japanese artform that has captivated Western eyes since the late 19th century.

Her collection of woodblock prints was sold by Heritage (25% buyer’s premium) in Dallas on June 27 as part of its series of Nelkin sales.

A retired stockbroker whose late husband worked in investment banking, Nelkin was seldom outbid at auction. “Mrs Nelkin always sat in front,” recalled specialist consultant Sachiko Hori. “I doubt she ever shook her head to indicate ‘no’ to the auctioneer. That was her determined way, resulting in this magnificent collection with depth and variety.”

Lilies from the Large Flowers series by Katsushika Hokusai, $87,500 (£68,400) at Heritage.

Most of the items had not seen the market in more than 30 years.

The first of at least three sales at Heritage arranged 246 lots in chronological order from the 18th to the 20th century.

Hokusai prominent

The auction contained 29 lots credited to the most celebrated of the Japanese printmakers, the Edo period artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849).

As expected, the top lot in the sale was a complete 1832 series of his Eight Views of the Ryukyu Islands, created in anticipation of the arrival of a tribute mission from the semi-autonomous Ryukyu kingdom in Edo (modern day Tokyo) in November 1832.

Hokusai had never visited the remote islands so instead based his compositions and titles on illustrations from the book Ryukyu kokushiryuaku published in 1757, adding in fictional elements for the Japanese audience including exotic plants and snow-peaked Fuji-like mountains. The set was estimated at $150,000-200,000 but hammered at $125,000 (£97,750).

In the 1830s, Hokusai entered his most prolific period as a print artist.

The Falling Mist Waterfall at Mount Kurokami by Katsushika Hokusai, $60,000 (£47,000) at Heritage.

Another eight-plate series from 1832 is A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri), the first ukiyo-e series on the theme of falling water.

The image of the Kirifuri falls (located a few miles north-east of the temple complex of Nikko) is particularly dramatic, appearing like the tentacles of sea creature or the roots of a tree. Nelkin’s impression, rich with the imported Prussian blue pigments popular at the time, was deemed a particularly good example. Estimated at $30,000-35,000, it took $60,000 (£47,000) - way more than the average price for this image.

Ashi Clam with Cranes Near the Waves by Katsushika Hokusai, $30,000 (£23,500) at Heritage.

Two other single Hokusai images went well over hopes. Lilies from the c.1833 series known as Large Flowers raced away from its $6000-7000 guide to sell at $87,500 (£68,400), while Ashi Clam with Cranes Near the Waves, from the 1821 series titled Genroku Shell-Matching Game (Genroku Kasen Kai-awase) took 10 times its low estimate at $30,000 (£23,500).

Eager market

The key figure in the early 20th century shin-hanga (new prints) movement that followed an intense period of modernisation and Westernisation in Japan was the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo. Although there was little interest at the time in Japan itself, many works found an eager market in the US and Europe.

Watanabe first worked with the prolific Kawase Hasui in 1919, issuing a 16-print series titled Souvenirs of Travel followed by another of the same title two years later. As Kawase’s sketchbooks and the original printing-blocks were destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, these are rarities.

Tsuta Marsh in Mutsu Province by Kawase Hasui, $26,000 (£20,350) at Heritage.

Here the image of Tsuta Marsh in Mutsu Province (Mutsu Tsutanuma) from the 1919 travel series was sold at $26,000 (£20,350) while two prints from the 1921 suite, Snow at Hashidate (Yuki ho hashidate) and Nishimikawazaka on Sado Island (Sado Nishimikawazaka) took $19,000 (£14,850) and $27,666 (£21,600) respectively.

Snow at Zojo Temple by Kawase Hasui, $36,000 (£28,200)at Heritage.

Across his long career Hasui produced several prints showing the Zojoji Temple in a snow setting.

The rarest, and one of the finest of all pre-earthquake ukiyo-e, shows a man dressed in western-style clothing walking in a blizzard toward the great Buddhist seminary. Titled Zojoji in Snow, it was produced in an edition of just 100 in 1922. The example here was pitched at $6000-7000 but sold at $36,000 (£28,200).

Abalone Diver by Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei), 1931, $28,000 (£22,000) at Heritage.

Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei) was another artist-illustrator recruited by Watanabe Shozaburo. Six shin-hanga compositions included the image used on the cover of the auction catalogue: the sensuous female nude titled Abalone Diver (Awabi tori) from 1931. Based on the 1913 painting Comb by Teramatsu Kunitaro, this is one of a series of Takahashi prints of beauties and cats published between 1929-32, the blocks for which were destroyed during the Second World War.

This example had a guide of $30,000-35,000 and took $28,000 (£22,000).

One of six works from Yoshida Hiroshi’s series 1926 series The Island Sea (Seto Naikai shu), $50,000 (£39,100) at Heritage.

The six works in Yoshida Hiroshi’s series The Island Sea (Seto Naikai shu), from 1926, depict the same sailboat and its reflection at different times of the day and in atmospheric conditions.

Breaking with the traditional ukiyo-e method, where artists passed their sketches to block carvers and printers, Hiroshi followed Western techniques by personally carving his woodblocks and overseeing the printing process. These so-called sosaku-hanga (creative prints) bear his signature in pencil along the lower edge plus the jizuri (self-printed) seal in the margin.

The complete set estimated at $30,000-35,000 sold at $50,000 (£39,100).

More to come

The entirety of the Nelkin collection of Japanese woodblock prints numbered more than 1750 items. A second tranche of the collection will be offered by Heritage on September 25 with a third sale planned for later in the year