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Subject:Re: Utamaro's Beauty in front of Mirror. is this real??
Posted By: Stan Tue, Apr 12, 2016
When looking at an Utamaro print for authenticity you have several high hurdles to overcome. Utamaro's prints have been copied many times over and the odds of having an original are small. Yours, if original, has the additional hurdle that it is in very good condition. This, again, tips the scales toward a reproduction. The paper doesn't appear to be of the period when Utamaro was working. Further, I suspect the red text is the printer who printed the reproduction but I can't read Japanese.
Given all that, I tried to find a known original of this print to compare with yours. There appears to be one in the Tokyo National Museum (see link below) in fairly poor condition. Yours does not compare well with that one.
In short, my assessment is that your print is a reproduction. Good repros of Utamaro prints have some value. A gallery price, framed, might be a couple of hundred dollars. On an auction site, half that.
Cheers,
Stan
URL Title :Beauty in Front of Mirror
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