Illustrated handscroll on paper with scenes of the Great Meiwa Fire of 1772

by Meiwa Fire Scroll

$13,500 · Offered by Jonathan A. Hill Bookseller

Scroll 190 x 3980 mm. , outer front endpaper covered with blue silk, inner endpaper of gold & silver paper, manuscript title label on outside “Meiwa kasai zu” 明和火災図 “Meiwa Fire illustrated” . Japan : late Edo. Japanese cities have always been plagued by terrible fires. Regarding Edo, “the wooden construction of all of the city and the narrow lanes of commoner quarters made fire a devastating experience, and it came sufficiently

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