Carpenters Item Number: 2723/9 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Vertically rectangular multicoloured print depicting several carpenters working outside of a shed, measuring, planing and chopping long pieces of wood. A picture of a house leans against a back wall beside a table at which one worker is dozing. A beautiful tree with large green leaves and abundant white flowers hangs over one end of the roof of the shed.

History Of Use

Reproduction from a set of paintings called “Shokunin ezukushi” (職人絵尽/A Collection of Pictures of Artisans), which consists of 24 pieces, painted on screens, which are kept in the Kitain (喜多院; temple) at Kawagoe, in Saitama Prefecture. The paintings are attributed to Tosa Mitsuoki (土佐光起), who was appointed “Sakon-Shogen” early in the era of Genroku and made Chief of the Painting Bureau.