$500–$4,000. Common landscapes: $500–$1,500. Key value factors: Maeda Masao's atmospheric mountain and landscape prints have a dedicated following among sosaku-hanga collectors.
Chapter 6 of The Tale of Genji — Suetsumuhana (末摘花, "The Safflower") — depicts Genji's tragicomic relationship with an eccentric, impoverished princess whose notable ugliness — including a famously red nose — becomes the basis for one of the novel's few comic episodes. Maeda Masao's illustration for this unusually humorous chapter must find visual equivalents for the chapter's gentle satire of aristocratic pretension, the safflower of the title — both the princess's flower name and a reddish dye plant — providing a characteristic natural motif around which the composition is organized.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Chapter 6 - Suetsumuhana was created by Maeda Masao (前田政雄).
Chapter 6 - Suetsumuhana depicts figures, bijin-ga, and portraits.
