Utagawa Hiroshige Ii Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Hiroshige II was one of the best-known Japanese artists, born in 1826 with the name Chinpei Suzuki. His teacher, Ando Hiroshige, according to custom, assigned him a stage name taken from the first or last part of his name. Read the full biography

Hiroshige II was one of the best-known Japanese artists, born in 1826 with the name Chinpei Suzuki. His teacher, Ando Hiroshige, according to custom, assigned him a stage name taken from the first or last part of his name. Hiroshige I, in fact, granted his student the name Shigenobu, given the talent demonstrated in the branch of ukiyo-e, an artistic printing technique on Japanese wood blocks.
Following the death of Hiroshige I in 1858, his student, now experienced and mature, inherited his master's name and became Hiroshige II. He collaborated with the artist Kunisada, who had previously worked with Hiroshige I, producing a series of prints of great beauty and inventiveness.
During the last years of his life, he devoted himself mainly to the decoration of works intended for export, such as tea boxes, kites and lanterns. Hiroshige II died on October 21, 1869 in Yokohama.