Album of Sketches and Drawings
19th century
Medium
Album; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Image: 8 11/16 × 12 × 13/16 in. (22 × 30.5 × 2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo (1615–1868)–Meiji (1868–1912) period
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Accession Number
29.100.1401
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of a 19th-century Japanese artist'sbook with this *Album of Sketches and*, a treasured artifact from the Edo (1615–1868) to Meiji (1868–1912) periods. Crafted by an unidentified artist, this compact album—measuring just 8 11/16 × 12 × 13/16 inches—holds a collection of ink and color drawings on paper, offering a rare glimpse into the creative process of the time. Such albums were personal repositories, where artists captured fleeting ideas, studies from life, or imaginative designs, much like a modern sketchpad but steeped in tradition. Spanning Japan's pivotal tr...