Shinagawa, Daybreak

The artwork

At daybreak the tail of a long procession passes between the houses of Shinagawa, while out in the bay the great white sails of the boats are already up. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The blue of the sea, the pink of the dawn clouds and the grey roofs of the houses.
• A landscape of sea and travel, perfect in an entrance hall or a living room.
• A gift for someone setting off, for anyone who loves the sea and for anyone who loves Japan.

It belongs to the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō, the series that made Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), the best loved landscape artist of Japan, famous, published around 1833-1834 by the publisher Hōeidō. The Tōkaidō was the great road that linked Edo, today's Tokyo, with Kyoto, with fifty-three post stations where travellers ate, slept and changed horses.

Shinagawa was the first, about eight kilometres from Nihonbashi Bridge, where the journey began: anyone leaving Edo at dawn reached it while it was still early morning. Here the road ran along the bay. Hiroshige shows us the end of a procession filing past inns and teahouses, with the bearers carrying chests on their shoulders, while on the left the sea opens up with boats at anchor and striped sails. Our reproduction comes from the impression in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

In an entrance hall or a living room it is a wish for a good journey. A gift for someone setting off or for anyone who loves travelling.

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