The record behind the sheet in your tube: the file we worked from, what we measured, which impression we chose and why, what we are allowed to sell, and the framing dimensions for this sheet.
The sheet you have
- Work
- Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), Bullfinch and Weeping Cherry (Uso, shidarezakura), from an untitled series of flowers and birds, c. 1834
- Object
- Colour woodblock print (nishiki-e), chūban, 25.4 × 19.1 cm
- Held by
- The Art Institute of Chicago, Clarence Buckingham Collection
- Accession
- 1925.3367 (AIC object 25093)
- File
- The museum's own IIIF endpoint, 6912 × 9252 px
- Crop
- [99, 99, 6814, 9136] → 6715 × 9037 px — the pale scanner ground of about 100 px on every side removed, nothing else
- Printed at
- 27 × 35 cm sheet: image 18.87 × 25.40 cm, original size, 1:1 — 903 dpi available
40 × 50 cm sheet: image 32.39 × 43.60 cm, 1.72× — 527 dpi available
Which impression, and why this one
The picture is a bullfinch on a cherry branch against a flat indigo ground, and the indigo is the whole risk: it is the pigment that fades to grey-green first, and once it has gone the bird has nothing to sit against. Chicago's impression still carries it at full strength, running clean to the edge of the block on all four sides.
Why the sheet is 27 × 35
A chūban is roughly half an ōban, and on a 30 × 40 sheet it would float with 5.6 cm of white at each side — more air than the picture wants. The 27 × 35 sheet brings that to 4.07 cm and matches the standard 11 × 14 inch frame. This is the only work in the catalogue on that sheet, and it is on it for that reason.
What we measured
The block was measured by line luminance rather than by a colour threshold, because the ground is a continuous wash. It runs 6715 × 9037 px, giving 0.7431 against the catalogued 0.7520 — 1.2 %, inside the museum's rounding to one decimal. The scale is anchored on the catalogued sheet height of 25.4 cm. The four corners were checked at 1:1: square, with the indigo running to the block edge; the pale patches at the lower right are cherry blossoms, not paper. Nothing is trimmed inward.
What we are allowed to sell
The work. Hokusai died in 1849 and the sheet was published around 1834: public domain in every market we ship to.
The photograph. The Art Institute of Chicago publishes images of public-domain works under Creative Commons Zero, for any purpose including commercial use. Taken from the museum's own endpoint.
What we do not claim. A giclée reproduction printed with pigment inks. Not a woodblock print, and not sold as one.
Framing this sheet
- 27 × 35 cm sheet
- A 27 × 35 cm frame, no mat — or the standard 11 × 14 in, which is within a few millimetres. Margins 4.07 cm each side, 4.47 above, 5.13 below.
- 40 × 50 cm sheet
- A 40 × 50 cm frame. Nearest standard 16 × 20 in. Margins 3.81 cm each side, 2.98 above, 3.42 below.
- If you mat it
- Go one frame size up and cut the window three millimetres inside the printed image on every side. Do not trim the sheet.
Please measure before you buy or cut. These figures describe the file we print from. Sheets are cut by machine to about a millimetre and frames vary between makers. We replace a print that arrives damaged or wrong; we cannot replace a frame or mat that turns out not to fit.
All records: museartis.com/pages/sheet-records · Questions: info@museartis.com