Printer's woodblock 18th - 19th century

This printer's woodblock was made by Utagawa Toyokuni I, likely in the late 18th or early 19th century, during Japan's Edo period. Carved in meticulous detail, the block would have been used to produce ukiyo-e prints, images of the floating world. This was a time of relative peace and economic growth under the Tokugawa shogunate. Urban culture flourished, and with it, the demand for art that reflected the pleasures and pastimes of the merchant class. Ukiyo-e prints, often depicting courtesans, actors, and scenes from everyday life, became wildly popular. They were not simply aesthetic objects but commodities within a burgeoning commercial system, made possible by collaboration between artist, block carver, printer, and publisher. We might ask, then, what role such images played in shaping social values, or in challenging the rigid social hierarchy of the time. By studying these blocks and the prints they produced, we can gain insight into the complex interplay between art, commerce, and society in Edo-period Japan.