Lot 300 , Emperor Meiji (1852-1912) A ‘phototexture’ portrait taken from a conté crayon drawing by Eduardo Chiossone in 1888. He drew two portraits which were to become the official images of the emperor.

Emperor Meiji (1852-1912) A ‘phototexture’ portrait taken from a conté crayon drawing by Eduardo Chiossone in 1888. He drew two portraits which were to become the official images of the emperor.
The term phototexture seems to embrace a woven textured form, the resultant image resembling a lithograph or photogravure. The portrait here is on silk and measures 14.5 x 11.7cm. It is enclosed in a floral and leaf border and has a Japanese inscription to the lower edge, the overall measurement of the silk being 36 x 30cm. and two printed Japanese texts, a translation of the ‘Precepts of Iyeyasu’ [Tokugawa leyasu] translated by K. Wadagaki of the Imperial University and a description of the process of phototexture signed ‘Tomizawa Phototexture Department.’

All rolled into a scroll and contained in a cylindrical cloth covered case.

£80-120