Japanese Woodblock Surimono - Surimono are an exclusive subcategory of Japanese woodblock prints. Poetry clubs commissioned these designs for distribution to a small audience of members, most often as New Year's greetings. These privately published images included a wonderful range of subjects and lavish printing techniques such as embossing, burnishing, and metallic pigments. Since surimono were not sold commercially, the print runs were very small and original Edo era surimono are incredibly rare in the market today.

Comments - Interesting surimono of a knife resting alongside a snakeskin sheath atop a red cloth and a piece of black fur. The sheath is detailed with fine embossing on the snakeskin and the green areas, while the red cloth has delicate embossed lines. A nicely detailed design.

Artist - Hokuba (1771 - 1844)

Image Size - 5 3/8" x 10 3/4"

Condition - This print with nice detail as shown. Backed with paper. Small repair, rubbing, spotting, a few creases, stain. Please see photos for details.