Pin and ink drawing
6”x4” on paper
Maybe brought from Japan 1949
Other
Maybe
Thank you for contacting Mearto. This is a monochrome Japanese print of a moon bridge, boat, and trees. There is slight damage to the corners of the print.
The characters in the lower box are numbers.
八 8
十 10
七 7
三 3
百 100
The left column would be 87
The right would be 300
I am unsure of the meaning behind the numbers.
The leaf image is a publisher’s seal. In this case, it appears to be that of Kobayashi Bunshichi. I have attached a link below with dates and more info about this company.
The signature appears to be Konen. The artist is probably Uehara Konen. Below are links to images of some of his seal, prints, and biological information.
Prints are tricky because they are continuously printed, so it can be difficult to pin down a date. Prices vary in accordance. It is rare to have an original print, but even later prints that are from the first half of the 20th century are valuable. Some ways to judge the authenticity of a print are below. The damage to the piece will affect the value. However, this must be an early print if it was purchased in 1949, so that will increase the value. Based on hammer prices, the Fair Market Value of this print is between $400 and $500, conditional on authenticity.
Hammer prices for his prints:
$200
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/44965945_konen-uehara-pleasure-boat-on-the-sumida-river-at
$100
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/50331423_uehara-konen-azuri-e-snow-scene
3 for $250
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/43740902_3-uehara-konen-japanese-1878-1940-woodblock
$800
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/21063661_uehara-konen-woodblock
$950
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/50583761_uehara-konen-evening-at-dotonbori-osaka
The publisher’s seal:
http://shotei.com/seals/seal_details.php?seal=1056
Second image shows his seal, same as yours:
http://www.jaodb.com/db/ItemDetail.asp?item=39389
His prints:
https://www.artic.edu/artists/14261/uehara-konen
Testing print authenticity tips:
https://moonlitseaprints.com/japanese-woodblock-print-real/#:~:text=Authenticating%20a%20Japanese%20print%20involves,image%2C%20and%20likelihood%20of%20reproduction.
Bio:
UEHARA KONEN was born in 1878 in Tokyo. He studied painting with Kajita Hanko and the well-known artist Matsumoto Fuko, and then spent five years studying in the Nihon Bijutsuin (Japan Fine Arts Academy). Beginning around 1908 he worked with the publisher Kobayashi Bunshichi designing landscape and kacho-e woodblock prints. It was probably there that he met the young Watanabe Shozaburo who also worked for Bunshichi as a clerk. Later in the 1930s when Watanabe had established his own publishing company Konen collaborated with on several woodblock prints, although only two prints are listed in the 1951 Watanabe catalogue. Konen served in the Imperial Household and in the Foreign Ministry, probably as a wartime artist. He continued to exhibit award-winning paintings in various exhibitions and served as a juror for the Tokyo Metropolitan. Konen died May 24th, 1940 in Tokyo.
