Woodblock diptych by a follower of Katsushika Hokusai, “Character Studies”, 1852

Unidentified follower of Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849)

“Character Studies” (descriptive title only), 1852, three-colour woodblock diptych printed in black, grey and pink on fine laid paper with the two panels abutted to create a single image related to Katsushika Hokusa’s manga ([漫画] “whimsical drawings”), backed with a support sheet.

Size: (support sheet) 34.5 x 37.2 cm: (adjoined sheets) 19.9 x 22 cm; (image borderline of each panel) 16 x 10.2 cm.

I understand that the publication featuring this print is catalogued as no. 57067 in the Japanese “General Catalogue of National Books” (aka “Japanese Classical Books Catalogue of the Maximum Scale; “Kokusho Sōmokuroku (国書総目録)”, but I have not been successful in finding this publication using the online catalogue as a resource: https://web.archive.org/web/20051028015505/http://base4.nijl.ac.jp/~koten/. I would be VERY grateful for help as I have tried multiple times.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression showing minimal signs of wear to the printing plates. Beyond several replenished wormholes, the sheet is in a good condition with no significant stains or other issues.

I am selling this insightful set of small figure studies for AU$187 in total (currently US$124.99/EUR113.09/GBP99.55 at the time of listing this double-panel woodblock print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).

If you are interested in purchasing this finely executed woodblock diptych, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.