Nakayama SUGAKUDO.FL. 1850-1861Roosters fight.1859Polychrome woodcut. 335x224 mm, small margins. Sign left near the margin: 嵩岳堂. Below, two square seals. On the left margin censor seal Aratame 1859 Goat 6th Mo. During this time period, the aratame and zodiac date appear in a single round seal. Very good copy.

Very interesting print depicting a roosters fight among flowers and grass. From the series “48 Birds Drawn from Life”. Nakayama Sugakudo was a mid-19th century ukiyo-e artist. Though the exact dates of his birth and death are unknown, he flourished between 1850 and 1861. A student of Hiroshige, Sugakudo is best known for his kacho-e (bird-and-flower prints), particularly for his series Exact Reproductions of Forty-Eight Birds (1858-59) and Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons (1861). These prints are acclaimed for their realistic rendering of the natural world, as well as their delicacy of color, fine embossing, and high technical quality.