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Wayo Zakka Keorimono-Rui [Japanese And Western Sundries And Woollen Textiles]

c1900s. Colour lithograph with text in Japanese, 26 x 38cm. Slight discolouration and minor foxing. Linen-backed.

This richly coloured hikifuda or commercial handbill places a fashionably dressed woman and child at the edge of a crowded retail street, where a shop assistant gestures toward displays beneath rows of lanterns, banners and densely lettered shop signs. The principal Japanese wording advertises “wayo zakka” (Japanese and Western sundries) and woollen textiles, while the large calligraphy identifies Matsumoto Shoten. The split composition sets vigorous black lettering against a busy modern shopping scene, linking traditional brush forms with imagery of department-store consumption and imported goods. Produced as sales publicity for a textile and sundries merchant, the sheet is a vivid record of Japanese retail advertising and the visual culture of urban shopping in the early twentieth century.
Item #CL210-116

Price (AUD): $770.00  other currencies