Cloth-fulling Jewel River, from an untitled series of Six Jewel Rivers
c. 1767
Medium
Color woodblock print; chuban
Dimensions
26.3 × 20.2 cm (10 3/8 × 7 15/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
34448
Art Historical Context
Suzuki Harunobu's *Cloth-fulling Jewel*, created around 1767, is a charming color woodblock print from an untitled series depicting the Six Jewel Rivers—poetic beauty spots celebrated in Japanese literature for their scenic splendor. This chuban-format print (a compact 26.3 × 20.2 cm) captures women engaged in the traditional labor of fulling cloth by a serene riverbank, blending everyday rural life with the lyrical allure of nature. Harunobu, a pioneering ukiyo-e artist during Japan's Edo period, revolutionized printmaking by introducing full-color nishiki-e techniques around 1765, allowing v...
About the Artist
Suzuki Harunobu · 1725–1770
Suzuki Harunobu (c. 1725-1770) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist who revolutionized woodblock printing by developing nishiki-e—full-color prints using multiple woodblocks—in 1765. Before Harunobu, Japanese prints were limited to two or three colors; his innovation unleashed the entire artist's palette, transforming ukiyo-e into the vibrant art form that would later captivate Western artists from Manet...