Carp and Tortoises
- Date:
- after 1940
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Yoshida Studio
- Source:
From Yoshida's later career (1935–1950), these prints show his technical mastery at full maturity. Later-decade prints slightly trail peak-period 1920s works at auction, but jizuri impressions of desirable subjects still command strong prices. Standard jizuri Japanese landscapes follow the dealer benchmark of approximately $2,149; Sacred Bridge, Nikko (1937) sold for $800 at Schmidt's Antiques for a pencil-signed example.
Carp and tortoises share a pond in this post-1940 print — a composition centered on the aquatic life of a garden pond or temple water basin rather than on landscape scenery. Both animals carry deep symbolic weight in Japanese culture: carp (koi) represent perseverance and success, their upstream struggle a metaphor for ambition; tortoises embody longevity and wisdom, their association with ten-thousand-year lifespans making them auspicious presences in any setting. Yoshida renders the underwater world with the same attentive observation he brought to mountain peaks and harbor reflections, the translucent water surface above revealing the forms and colors of the animals below in the manner that only direct observation in a clear-bottomed pond makes possible.
$3,000
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Carp and Tortoises was created by Hiroshi Yoshida (吉田博) in after 1940.
Carp and Tortoises was published by Yoshida Studio (after 1940).
Carp and Tortoises depicts fish and animals.
