$200–$1,500. Snow and night scenes tend to command premium prices for this artist. Key value factors: Shoda Koho's elegant nature prints are beautifully produced and accessible to beginning collectors.
This oban woodblock print depicts a beautiful woman standing beside a pond in a snow-covered landscape, merging the bijin-ga and snow scene genres into a single composition. The woman's figure, wrapped in a winter kimono, provides a vertical counterpoint to the horizontal plane of the frozen pond and the soft accumulation of snow on surrounding rocks and branches. Shoda uses the whiteness of the snow to simplify the background, pushing the viewer's attention toward the woman and her reflection in the dark water. The contrast between the warm tones of her clothing and the cold monochrome of the winter setting creates visual tension that elevates the print beyond simple portraiture. Snow rests on branches and the pond's edge with a weight that Shoda renders through careful negative space, letting the paper itself serve as the purest white.
Woodblock print
c. 1832/38
Color woodblock print; oban
Yuki no Miyajima
1929
Color woodblock print; oban
1932
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Bijin by Pond in Snow was created by Koho Shoda (庄田耕峰).
Bijin by Pond in Snow depicts snow scenes, rivers & lakes, and bijin-ga.
