Untitled (inuzuka-taisui)

An untitled woodblock print by Inuzuka Taisui, this work belongs to the artist's sustained body of shin-hanga botanical subjects. The colophon or publisher's mark on the reverse of shin-hanga prints typically identified the publisher, edition, and sometimes the carver and printer involved in production. For Taisui's prints, these marks provide important clues about the commercial context of his work, including which publisher commissioned the design and when it was issued. The absence of a descriptive title for this print may reflect the conventions of the particular publisher's cataloging system rather than an intentional decision by the artist. Many shin-hanga publishers tracked their inventory by number rather than by title, which has complicated later efforts to identify individual prints.