Box of Eighty Place Cards, with four different sets, each set with a small reproduction of a Hiroshiga woodblock scene on one side, the other side, blank for a name to be written

Takemura, H. [Hideo]

Published by H. Takemura & Co. [Hideo Takemura], Yokohama, 1930

About this Item

Stunning group of place cards that transcend the genre -- these place cards are exquisite miniature woodblocks based on Hiroshiga's immortal artwork. N.d., probably from the 1930s when this printer and publisher, Hideo Takemura, was active and such place cards would have had an enthusiastic pool of buyers among Western tourists. H. Takemura was known for his printing of woodblock prints, generally, of course, in a larger format. Place cards would have been a novelty offshoot of that, but in our view, they are more than just throwaway variant reproductions. Besides the charm of the small to some collectors, these cards have an intensity of color that is breathtaking; that intensity is undimmed even after a century. These cards -- and the card is thick and near unbendable -- are almost too nice to use for a party just to have tossed after. Even though Takemura printed his own artwork, one can understand the incentive to use Hiroshiga imagery for place cards because of their irresistible appeal to tourists wanting to take home a piece of quintessential Japan as they imagined it, and the traditional virtually always shapes their view of a foreign culture. Not to be slighted is the packaging of these cards. The box paper pastedown is itself a work of decorative art, with its faux wood grain design, a trompe d'oeil one could say, and a pattern that captures something of the evanescent notion that informs much Eastern art -- there is a sense of movement in the irregular rippling pattern. The paper label on top of the lid is has a silhouette design and some calligraphic characters. Condition: The cards are pristine, and obviously unused. The box is complete as well. The box has some wear. One of the short sides of the lid isn't attached to its long sided neighbors. The paper label has two insignificant closed tears near one another, but no loss of paper. Decorative Box. Each group of cards held together by paper band.

Seller Inventory # 20553

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Box of Eighty Place Cards, with four different sets, each set with a small reproduction of a Hiroshiga woodblock scene on one side, the other side, blank for a name to be written
• Publisher: H. Takemura & Co. [Hideo Takemura], Yokohama
• Publication Date: 1930
• Illustrator: Hiroshiga
• Condition: Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Japan
  • Culinary
  • Prints
  • Cards