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), Sparrows and Camellia in Snow, c. 1831–33
- Object
- Colour woodblock print (nishiki-e), ōtanzaku panel, 38 × 17.3 cm
- Held by
- The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of H. R. Warner
- Accession
- 1932.208 (AIC object 11039)
- File
- The museum's own IIIF endpoint, 5250 × 11130 px from a native 5259 × 11149
- Crop
- [151, 125, 5118, 11014] → 4967 × 10889 px, ratio 2.1923
- Printed at
- 40 × 50 cm sheet: image 16.96 × 37.18 cm, original size, 1:1 — 744 dpi available
50 × 70 cm sheet: image 28.28 × 62.00 cm, 1.67× — 446 dpi available
Which impression, and why this one
Snow on a woodblock print is not printed — it is the paper, left alone, with everything around it printed up to its edge. That makes an impression like this one unusually easy to spoil: any yellowing of the sheet turns the snow dirty, and the red of the camellia goes first. Chicago's copy still reads as white against a saturated red, which is the whole picture.
What we measured
The printed block runs 4967 × 10889 px, a ratio of 2.1923 against the catalogued 2.1965 — a difference of 0.19 %. The scale is anchored on the catalogued sheet height of 38 cm. The four corners were checked at 1:1: no chamfer, no torn edge, so nothing is trimmed inward.
Record of a correction: the crop used until 2 September 2026, [160, 136, 5104, 11000], sat inside the printed block on all four sides and clipped between 0.3 and 0.5 mm — including part of the title cartouche at the upper right. It was re-measured natively that day, both print files were rebuilt and replaced, and the block is now printed whole. If your sheet was made before that date and its cartouche looks cut, write to us and we will replace it.
A narrow picture on a standard sheet
An ōtanzaku panel fits no standard frame of its own, so it is centred on the house sheets with wide side borders — about 11.5 cm of white at each side at 1:1. That is deliberate: a tall narrow picture floating in white is what the format was for. The enlargement is limited by the sheet height, not the width.
What we are allowed to sell
The work. Hiroshige died in 1858 and the panel was published in the early 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
- 40 × 50 cm sheet
- A 40 × 50 cm frame, no mat. Nearest standard 16 × 20 in. Margins 11.52 cm each side, 5.96 above, 6.86 below.
- 50 × 70 cm sheet
- A 50 × 70 cm frame. Nearest standard 20 × 28 in. Margins 10.86 cm each side, 3.72 above, 4.28 below.
- If you mat it
- On a panel this narrow a mat rarely improves matters. If you cut one, keep the window three millimetres inside the printed image. 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