‎ICHI BAN (Number One ) - Japanese Art & Artefacts in San Francisco (1892) and Chicago ( 1894). - Photo Album :‎
‎Album with 34 large and 2 smaller albumen photographs depicting the ICHI BAN shop with Japanese Art & Artefacts in San Francisco (around 1892) and also the NEE BAN shop in Chicago.n‎

‎" Album with a total of 36 albumen original photographs, 34 with size 23 x 17 cm , 2 with size 13,5 x 10 cm ; mounted back to back on stiif boards ( board size 26 x 34 cm). Bound in a contemporary full leather binding. Both album boards covered with dark green leather which has been delicately embossed with small images of insects and flowers. These images are also colored, some heigthened with gold. Smooth spine with the word album in gilt. White silky paper end leaves, all edges gilt. Binding with minimal traces of use. Typical and well preserved binding. The first 10 photographs depict the outside and inside of the ICHI Ban shop in San Francisco ( 22 & 24 Geary Street), near the Palace hotel. The shop covered an area of over 10000 sq. ft and sold Japanese artefacts and art. 2 pictures of the building in the street; 8 detailed pictures of the interior ( 1 is a bit oveexposed, 1 is slightly faded). (8 others are very good !). The remaining 26 photographs document the Chicago NEE Ban shop which opened in 1894 in the former Tobey building at the corner of Jackson and State street. The building was crowned with a 30 feet figure of a Japanese woman. A noverty was the electric lighting. 3 pictures show the building; 5 general views of the interior; 4 pictures of Japanese screens; other pictures of furniture; and woven or wooden objects. The album does not have any traces of a provenance. It might have been assembled by the managers of the shop , either as documentation for themselves or as a gift for an important customer. This rare and finely bound album offers a good view of how Japan marketed its culture in a very early stage of rapprochement with the West."‎

Reference : 52695

‎‎