[WOODCUT ENGRAVINGS OF JAPANESE SHUNGA, OR EROTICA, "Pillow Book"]

Japanese Shunga of the Ukiyo-e type, executed in woodblock and hand-coloured in enpon form. With twelve beautifully rendered 8.5 by 8 inch erotic woodcuts framed by gilt paper. Oblong Folio, folding Japanese accordion style creating a 10 x 5.5 inch portfolio bound in in original stiff boards covered with patterned silk. Extremely well preserved, the images all bright and pristine, the paper on which they are printed fine, the silk covered boards beautifully preserved and just a touch mellowed.

Edizione: an excellent example of japanese shunga, an erotic art of the ukiyo-e style which reached its pinnacle during the edo period. works of this type were produced from the 17th to early 20th centuries in spite of repeated governmental attempts to suppress shunga. shunga has its origins in ancient china. it is thought that shunga were inspired by the twelve scrolls depicting the twelve sexual acts that the crown prince had to carry out as an expression of yin and yang. several of these prints display a common shunga theme, the exaggeration of the size of the genital organs.<br> the introduction of western technologies in the later 19th and early 20th century, particularly the importation of photo-reproduction techniques, had serious consequences for shunga. eventually, shunga could no longer compete with erotic photography, leading to its decline. but, it clearly provided the inspiration for the sh wa and heisei, the modern art known in the western world as 'hentai', which is the sexually explicit form of manga or anime.