9. Félix Buhot
(1847-1898)
Baptême Japonais

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Buhot, Baptême Japonais

Baptême Japonais

Etching with drypoint, aquatint, sulphur tint and lift ground, 1887, B/G 167 i/ii, 218 x 132 mm., ex collection J. Henry Harper (not in Lugt). Very fine impression, of the rare state before the insertion of the image of Buhot's son Jean in the oval, printed à l’essence (the paper soaked in turpentine) on Rives laid paper with large margins, signed in brown ink and inscribed "2e État" (sic), inscribed in pencil to Mr. Harper, and bearing the small, red owl stamp in the lower margin. The impression is printed with heavy plate tone and the paper is toned a rich brown from the oxidation of the turpentine Buhot used in the printing. This is the earliest state of the plate currently known. If Buhot's inscription seems to indicate that there is an earlier state, no impression of it is known today. Buhot was among the first western artists to use Japonisme motifs in his prints and drawings, as early as 1874. He returned to the idea in this, one of his last etching-based prints. A beautiful and rare example.