絵本福寿草 3巻 [1]

大岡春卜編, 大岡春川画 · 1737 · 須原屋茂兵衛 · 55 pictures

An 18th-century Japanese picture book (ehon) in three volumes, compiled by Ōoka Shunboku and illustrated by Ōoka Shunsen, published in Edo in 1737 by Suharaya Mohei for a general readership interested in plants. The pages show botanical studies of flowering plants drawn in fine ink outlines on tinted paper, with Japanese annotations and seasonal month notes beside them. A designer could take from them the economy of single-line contour drawing, sparse botanical arrangement, and the layered, faint background washes that suggest a page without filling it.

Japanese picture books (ehon)

National Diet Library, Japan (国立国会図書館) · Public Domain Mark (PDM), National Diet Library · More from this library