KITAGAWA UTAMARO (1753?-1806), Gifts of the Ebb Tide (Shiohi no tsuto)

An illustrated kyoka anthology, 1 volume (complete) with dark blue covers painted in gold with grasses and bands of mist, comprising 10 sheets, 1 preface sheet signed “written by Chieda at the request of the Yaegaki poetry circle,” 8 double-page illustrations printed with karazuri, mica and metallic dust, a total of thirty-six kyoka poems by thirty-six poets in the upper half of each illustration on the subject of the thirty-six different shells which appear below, one plate depicting women gathering shells on the beach, six plates of various shells and seaweed on the shore, and one of a princess and attendants playing the kai-awase (shell-matching) game in an interior, featuring gold paint applied to the clouds at the bottom of the folding screen as well as cut gold leaf and gold sand above, 1 postscript sheet signed Chieda followed by the colophon naming the illustrator as Gako Kitagawa Utamaro with seal Jisei Ikke, published by Koshodo (Tsutaya Juzaburo of Edo), 1789
27.2 x 19.5 cm. (103⁄4 x 75⁄8 in.)