An Old Man and Attendants Watching the Sugoroku Game

Date:: 1799
Medium:: Color woodblock print; surimono
Format:: Oban
Source:: Art Institute of Chicago

Typical Price

Later reprint or reproduction (20th-century): $50–$300
Good later impression (Edo-period): $1,000–$5,000
Good early impression (vivid color, legible detail): $5,000–$20,000
Fine early impression (exceptional color and condition): $20,000–$60,000

Hokusai's genre scenes, bijin-ga (beautiful women), and miscellaneous subjects represent the breadth of his career across more than seven decades. The market for non-landscape Hokusai prints has strengthened as collectors seek beyond the most famous designs.

Description

An elderly man and his attendants observe a game of sugoroku — a board game resembling backgammon and popular at New Year celebrations — in this [surimono](/glossary/surimono) from 1799. The composition conveys the leisure culture of prosperous Edo households during the holiday season, with the dignified figure of the old man lending a sense of domestic ceremony to what is ostensibly an entertainment scene.