Posted by Anders R (219.198.195.5) on February 20, 2012 at 17:01:41:
In Reply to: Re: Utamaro prints- one design two s posted by Hans Olof Johansson on February 16, 2012 at 13:59:17:
1478 - colorants are wrong. Did not exist in the Edo period or early Meiji.
1500. It is just impossible to tell for sure if a print is genuine from a very small image on a computer screen.
Duplicate set of blocks of the same print in the Edo period is exceptionally rare.
Off hand, without an library I can only think of one instanance, Sharaku's Ichikawa Ebizo as Takemura Sadanoshin, even here I think with further research we will find one is a later copy.
In the Edo period there are quite a few pirated versions of variuos designs but they are not line by line copies.