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Picture Book of the Evergreens (Ehon tokiwagusa)

Nishikawa, Sukenobu, 1671-1751 · 1731 · Osaka : Morita Shōtarō毛利田庄太郎 · 9 pictures

Picture Book of the Evergreens is an illustrated woodblock book printed in 1731 in Osaka by Morita Shōtarō and drawn by Nishikawa Sukenobu, probably for a general Japanese readership of the period. Its double-page spreads show courtly and domestic scenes of elegantly dressed women indoors and on verandas, with sparse, confident ink contours, patterned kimono, and open architectural framing. A designer could take from them the economy of line, the layered textile patterning, and the use of interior space and cropped screens to organise a composition.

Nishikawa, Sukenobu, 1671-1751

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