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Rice Farm by Mt Fuji
by Niimi Sei (Watercolour)

Original caretaker of this artwork: Private collector

	Artist:	Niimi Sei (Watercolour)
	Title:	Rice Farm by Mt Fuji (given title; official title unknown)
	Series:
	Date of first edition?:	1929 (circa)
	Publisher (first edition)?:	Self
	Medium (first edition):	Watercolour
	Format (first edition):	Not Set
	Notes (first edition)?:	Thanks to John for this entry. Dear Dr. Walker, Attached is a nice watercolor by S Niimi which I bought for $x at a thrift store. I had trouble identifying it because the art gallery that did the matting (perhaps in the 70s) covered up the S in his S Niimi signature. It's a beautiful piece that combines the tranquillity of Mt. Fuji, a rice field, and some farmhouses beside a gathering of trees. Interestingly when I took the backing off in the hope of finding more identification I confirmed it was given as a gift in December, 1929….twenty years to the month before Pearl Harbor….an amazing coincidence to find this piece which no one else recognized as having any value. Unfortunately, the matting also caused the hidden part to have a darker hue than the part exposed to light. Also, the gallery mistakenly wrote 1939, when it was clearly dated 1929 as I found when I removed the watercolor and read what was on the back.