Japanese woodblock print of an anemone-flowered red peony.

£750 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

Introduced from China, where the peony has long been used in traditional medicine, the tree peony came to represent feminine beauty, as well as wealth and nobility of spirit, in Japan. To create a woodblock print, artists like Kyutaro first designed the image on paper and then transferred it to a thin, partly transparent paper. Following the lines on the paper, now pasted to a wooden block usually of cherry wood, the carver used to chisel and cut to create the original in negative—with the lines and areas to be coloured raised in relief. Ink was then applied to the surface of the woodblock. Rubbing a round pad over the back of a piece of paper laid over the top of the inked board eventually made the print. Woodblock print; paper size: 25 x 18.5 cm.; framed glazed, overall size: 34 x 27.5 cm.

• Binding: Hardcover

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