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Picture Book of the Evergreens (Ehon tokiwagusa)

Nishikawa, Sukenobu, 1671-1751 · 1731 · 13 pictures

Ehon tokiwagusa is a Japanese woodblock picture book by Nishikawa Sukenobu, published in 1731 for a general readership of ukiyo-e and Kyoto-Osaka print buyers. Its pages show interiors where elegantly dressed women and youths sit, stand, write, and play music on tatami floors behind sliding screens and wooden verandas. The pictures offer a designer clear examples of layered kimono patterns, flat colour washes over fine black line, and spare architectural framing with open paper space.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art · No known copyright restrictions · More from this library