An Artisan’s Shop, from the album The Mist of Sandara (Sandara kasumi)

Date:: 1798
Medium:: Color woodblock print; album plate
Format:: Oban
Source:: Art Institute of Chicago

Typical Price

Reproduction or loose page (20th-century): $50–$300
Later Edo-period volume or leaf (some wear): $500–$3,000
Good earlier Edo-period impression (clean binding or leaf): $3,000–$15,000
Fine early Edo-period volume (original binding, vivid color): $15,000–$50,000

Hokusai's illustrated books and albums span six decades and showcase the full range of his genius. Hokusai Manga (15 volumes, 1814–1878) original volumes sell for $2,000–$15,000 each; complete sets can reach $30,000–$80,000.

Description

A craftsman's workshop interior — tools, materials, and in-progress work arranged across the composition — appears as a plate within the album Sandara kasumi (The Mist of Sandara) from 1798. Hokusai's interest in depicting artisan labor and commercial life placed him among the Edo artists who treated the city's productive economy as worthy pictorial subject, anticipating the workshop scenes of the later Manga sketchbooks.