JAPANESE MANUSCRIPT – KANRIN, Okata (1775-1849), and others. Gyocho ruishu [Collective of Fish and Birds.] [Japan, Edo Period, 19^th century.]

Japanese natural history drawings, with pre-Raphaelite provenance. The drawings, by more than one artist, depict mostly song birds, but also a kingfisher, a study of bat’s wings, a flounder, and lobsters. They are dated 1866, 1864, 1829 and the last page is signed Kanrin (Okata Kanrin); with a square red seal. This album was owned and is signed by William Rossetti, writer, founding member of the pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, and the first British editor of Walt Whitman. He was the brother of Dante and Christina Rossetti, and the husband of Lucy Madox Brown.

Folio (318 x 215mm), 14 pages, ink and color on paper (light stains and wear). Washi wrappers (tattered, covers and pages loose). Provenance: Ernest Abraham Hart, 1835-1898, prominent collector of Japanese art (his estate sale, Sotheby’s, 8 July 1898, lot 273, part lot) – William Rossetti, 1829-1919 (ownership inscription recording his purchase at the Hart sale, gift inscription signed by him) – Olivia Rossetti Agresti, 1875-1960, daughter of William, anarchist (gift inscription: “Presented to my dear Olive, for the delight & instruction of her Florentine friends”).