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Catching Fireflies

A work made of color woodblock print; ōban.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of color woodblock print; ōban.

Date:

c.1790s

Artist:

Eshōsai Chōki
Japanese, active c.1780–1810

About this artwork

Ground mica powder, now worn and cracked, originally made the night sky of this print luminous, providing a fitting backdrop to the glow of the fireflies. Artists used mica intermittently from the 1790s into the early 1800s in order to create more luxurious prints. From time to time, the government employed sumptuary laws—laws preventing extravagance—to ban the use of mica because it made prints too expensive.

Even when it was legal to do so, artists likely produced mica backgrounds in limited numbers. Probably fewer than 20 prints with this design have survived, and most of them are now in museum collections.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of Asia

Artist

Eishosai Choki

Title

Catching Fireflies

Place

Japan (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1790–1800

Medium

Color woodblock print; ōban

Dimensions

37.2 × 23.2 cm (14 5/8 × 9 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Reference Number

1949.392

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/90193/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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