石燕画譜
Shien gaten style record: this 1774 Japanese picture book, drawn by Toriyama Sekien and published by Enshuya Yashichi in Edo, is an ehon aimed at general readers and artists. Its pages show a crowd of figures in motion, from a samurai in a hooded cloak and a boy holding a rope tied to a horned creature to a man carrying a bundle of rods and a looping cord, drawn in quick ink lines with light touches of orange and green wash. A designer could borrow the loose, economical contour line, the flat washes of muted colour, and the way each figure is set against plain paper with little or no background.
