Fireworks at Ryōgoku

The artwork

On a summer night a rocket climbs above the river and bursts into a shower of sparks over the crowded Ryōgoku Bridge. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The black of the night, the orange sparks and the lit boats on the blue river.
• A dark, elegant picture that gives depth to a pale wall.
• A gift for anyone who loves Japan and its festivals.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), the best loved landscape artist of Japan, published it in 1858 in the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, the series devoted to the city now called Tokyo. In summer the people of Edo went down to the Sumida River in the evening to «take the cool», and Ryōgoku Bridge was the heart of the celebration: stalls, restaurants and boats hired for the night. Fireworks were so popular that the authorities had restricted them to the river as early as the seventeenth century, for fear of fire in a city built of wood.

Hiroshige looks at the scene from above and leaves almost the whole sheet in darkness: that is why the sparks shine as on a real night. Below, the bridge is full of people and the river full of boats. Our reproduction comes from the impression in the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

In a modern living room or an entrance hall it is a window onto a festive night. An original gift for anyone who loves Japanese prints.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass