12-18-2017 05:33 AM
I ended the listing in the hope of finding out more about this woodblock. The barefoot girl is holding a folded fan in one hand and has a sword in its scabard slung at her hip. The image has concentric buckling at the corners where it is pasted to the backing card. It is printed on the right kind of Japanese paper. Can anyone help with the ID, please? Thank you.
12-18-2017 05:35 AM
12-18-2017 06:11 AM
The signature MIGHT be Shumman.
12-18-2017 12:35 PM - edited 12-18-2017 12:38 PM
The long loose hair makes me think it's a woman, too. However, the headgear is a tate eboshi, worn by men. So perhaps it is a shirabyōshi dancer, a woman dancer who performed dressed as a man:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiraby%C5%8Dshi
Scroll down to read about various eboshi, including the tate eboshi:
http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/garb/garb.ch04.html#eboshi
Anyhow, an idea to pursue, perhaps.
01-01-2018 04:33 PM
Did you ever get any further with this? I remain curious about it.
01-02-2018 04:41 AM
01-02-2018 07:01 AM
OK. Thanks. Not long after you posted this, I did further research along the lines I mentioned. What I found made me believe I was probably right about the subject matter, as nothing else explains a female wearing the tate-eboshi (male heargear)i, carrying accoutrements like the kawahori (man's fan), etc. So I wondered if you'd pursued the idea, too. But, at this point, it doesn't matter. Sorry it didn't do better for you, as it's a bit out of the ordinary. That's eBay.
01-02-2018 10:08 AM
Yes, that's eBay. After eighteen years here, I have stopped listing for sale.
01-16-2018 05:18 AM
The buyer has had it removed from its backing and laid flat by the paper conservator of a regional city museum here in the UK and is very happy with it although he has not left Feedback so his good experience will not encourage bids on my other items. This is another reason eBay has become a poor option for selling. I need to set up accounts on other sites.
01-16-2018 07:31 AM
Thanks for the update. I am not generally "into" Asian art, but this piece interested me. I'm glad that it's in the hands of someone willing to care for it, at least. Had it been mine, I would have been truly unhappy to let it go at that price, too. But, then, you still run auctions, and with low starting bids, which is brave!