Japanese Original Ukiyo Woodblock print by Kono Bairei

This auction is for a frame that contains 2 original pages from an old Japanese book

Each page is a wood block print that was done by Kono Bairei, a famous Japanese artist.
The two pages when bound would have faced each other and make up two parts of one complete picture (facing pages in the book).

The photos show
Photo 1: The two pages side by side in the frame
Photo 2: The left hand page
Photo 3: The right hand page
Photo 4: The holes in the page that would have originally been where the books spine was stitched together

The pictures have been professionally framed.
On the back of the frame the date of the pictures is written as 1881. I can only assume they obtained this information from the original book prior to being taken to pieces and then the pages sold separate.

Condition
Both prints are in excellent condition considering they are approx 125 years old. However the right hand one on the top has some slight minor hardly noticeable damage.

Kono Bairei
Born in 1844 in Kyoto, Kono Bairei was one of the leading practitioners of the ukiyo-e school devoted to pictures of birds and flowers (kacho-ga) in the Meiji period. He was originally named Yasuda Bairei. Unlike the majority of ukiyo-e artists, he was trained as a classical Japanese painter, studying with several masters of various classical painting styles. As a child, Bairei studied with Nakajima Raisho and in his late twenties, with Shiokawa Bunrin. Bairei was instrumental in the founding of the Kyoto Prefectural School of Painting and after the school was underway, he opened his own studio and began to teach. Though at first he only did woodblock prints as an afterthought, Bairei eventually illustrated books and produced a number of series of prints. His prints are often found bound into volumes, either as four separate volumes or two volumes for spring/summer and autumn/winter. He used four different engravers and the publisher was Okura Magobei. A second, posthumous edition was published in 1899 and another series, “One Hundred Flowering Plants” was published in 1901. In 1893 Bairei became a member of the Art Committee of the Imperial Household. He was well known for his prints of Flowers and birds.

Due to the value of these prints I will send them recorded delivery.

If you require further information or pictures please contact me.

I will ship world wide.

Italian customers.

Because your post office is so bad I am sorry but I will not ship this to Italy