Ehon ike no kokoro (pair has old stickers #707)

Ehon ike no kokoro, a two-volume woodblock-printed book dated 1739 in the Art Institute of Chicago, belongs to the long sequence of poetically titled ehon that Sukenobu produced in his final two decades. The title — variously rendered as 'Picture Book: Heart of the Pond' or similar — signals the lyric register of the contents: figures arranged in seasonal settings, glossed by allusions to classical waka poetry, with the natural imagery of pond, willow, and reflection providing the structural metaphor. The 'old stickers #707' notation in the museum record points to the long collecting history of this particular copy, which carries earlier inventory markings from previous owners before its acquisition by the Art Institute. Books in this series were typically printed in monochrome sumi ink on a creamy washi ground, with the design relying entirely on line quality and on the rhythm of figures arranged across two-page openings. The 1739 date places the work within the Genbun era, a moment when Sukenobu was at the height of his publishing output and his Kyoto-style bijin imagery was being reprinted, copied, and circulated far beyond the Kamigata region itself.