Gifu, Totomi, Kochi / Japan Paper Company
A 1915 New York sample book issued by the Japan Paper Company to show handmade Japanese papers from Gifu, Totomi and Kochi to American buyers. Its pictures are small printed vignettes in sepia and orange: a parasol-carrying woman in kimono beside a stone lantern and pine trees, a seated scholar with a bird, a kneeling figure in dark robes, and a man holding a sample sheet. A designer might take the soft tinted paper grounds, the restrained line work and the pale hand-made sheet textures as period references for stationery or packaging.
