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
- Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), Shōno: Driving Rain (Shōno hakuu), from Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō — the Hōeidō edition, c. 1833–34
- Object
- Colour woodblock print (nishiki-e), ōban yoko-e, 24.2 × 36.2 cm
- Held by
- The Art Institute of Chicago, Clarence Buckingham Collection
- Accession
- 1925.3553 (AIC object 25761)
- File
- The museum's own IIIF endpoint, 8000 × 5407 px from a native 9474 × 6403
- Crop
- [600, 320, 6800, 4767] px — trimmed about two centimetres inside the scan on all four sides
- Printed at
- 50 × 40 cm sheet: image 30.77 × 21.57 cm, original scale, 1:1 — 561 dpi available
70 × 50 cm sheet: image 55.39 × 38.83 cm, 1.80× — 312 dpi available
Which impression, and why this one
This is the most reproduced of the fifty-three stations and one of the hardest to find in good condition: the rain is two sets of cut lines crossing the whole picture, and the grey of the sky is a hand-wiped gradation that goes flat the moment an impression tires. Chicago's still has both — the lines unbroken, the gradation graded.
Why this sheet is trimmed
The museum's impression has cut corners and a hand-trimmed edge that runs into the picture. Our first build reproduced them; we withdrew it. The file is now cropped about two centimetres in from the edge of the scan on all four sides, to the largest clean rectangle inside the printed picture. Cartouche, series title, signature and both publisher's seals are inside the crop, and the four corners were checked again at 1:1 on 2 September 2026: all sit in clean printed ground, clear of the damage.
1:1 refers to the scale, not the extent. The picture is printed at the size the block printed it; it is not the whole sheet, and this page is where we say so.
What we measured
The scale is anchored on the catalogued sheet width of 36.2 cm over 8000 px — 220.99 px per centimetre. The vertical implies 223.4, because the sheet is not a perfect rectangle: it was trimmed by hand. We use the width. The enlargement stops at 1.80×, the house ceiling for a line-cut work.
What we are allowed to sell
The work. Hiroshige died in 1858 and the series was published in the 1830s: 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
- 50 × 40 cm sheet
- A 50 × 40 cm frame, no mat. Nearest standard 20 × 16 in. Margins 9.62 cm each side, 8.57 above, 9.86 below.
- 70 × 50 cm sheet
- A 70 × 50 cm frame. Nearest standard 28 × 20 in. Margins 7.31 cm each side, 5.20 above, 5.98 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