Chinese and Tartar Boys Quarreling over a Game of Go

Date:: c. 1790
Medium:: Woodblock print; oban, keyblock proof impression
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

Two boys — one Chinese-robed, one dressed in a Tartar (Central Asian) style — argue heatedly over a game of go, their dispute rendered through exaggerated gesture in this keyblock proof impression from around 1790. The multicultural subject draws on the chinoiserie tradition popular in Edo-period Japan, and the rare keyblock proof state reveals the compositional architecture beneath the finished color layers.