Garden Sugaku-in

Medium:: Woodblock print
Edition:: Self-printed
Source:: Honolulu Museum of Art

Typical Price

Well-known Kyoto garden or temple composition in excellent condition: $1,500–$5,000

Good condition garden scene: $600–$2,000

Standard impression: $200–$700

Description

Sugakuin—likely a reference to Shugakuin Rikyu, the vast imperial villa garden northeast of Kyoto—presented Saito with one of Japan's most complex designed landscapes, where three ponds, multiple teahouses, and borrowed scenery from the surrounding hills were integrated into a composition spanning many hectares. His rendering necessarily compressed this sprawling space, selecting perhaps a single pavilion or shoreline view to stand for the whole.