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How big can you print it?
Standard frame sizes, turned to match the artwork. "Crops" is how much of the picture you lose filling that frame edge to edge — or keep it all and let a mat take up the difference.
| Frame | Effective dpi | Verdict | Crops |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 × 10 in | 327 | Gallery sharp | 15% |
| 11 × 14 in | 237 | Sharp up close | 13% |
| 12 × 16 in | 218 | Sharp up close | 9% |
| 16 × 20 in | 163 | Poster sharp | 15% |
| 18 × 24 in | 145 | Fine across a room | 9% |
| 24 × 36 in | 106 | Fine across a room | 2% |
| 30 × 40 in | 87 | Too soft | 9% |
The ticket
A Woman Playing with a Young Boy is a woodblock print by Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, ca. 1754–1806), dated ca. 1804. Woodblock print; ink and color on paper. Size on the museum record: 14 3/5 x 9 29/32 in. (37.1 x 25.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds it in its Asian Art collection — Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1918.
The Met catalogs A Woman Playing with a Young Boy as a woodblock print; ink and color on paper by Kitagawa Utamaro. The museum dates it ca. 1804; it sits in the Asian Art department as accession JP555. The subject is a person, so the face is the anchor. Hang it with the eyes near the centre line instead of floating high on the wall. The Met's scan measures 2,616 × 3,844 pixels, which prints about 8.7 × 12.8 in at 300 dpi and 17.4 × 25.6 in at a still-comfortable 150 dpi. Because it runs tall, it wants a vertical frame; compare the crop percentage across sizes before you choose. Its warm reds and oranges suit walnut or gold, which deepen the glow instead of washing it out. Woodblock prints were made to be reproduced, so a faithful reprint fits the tradition. Keep the paper tone warm instead of bleaching it to white. Light it from above with a soft warm bulb, hang the centre of the picture near 57 inches, and it will read as intended instead of as decoration.
The Met released its scan under CC0, which means no permission, no fee and no credit line required. That file is 2,616 × 3,844 pixels — 10.1 megapixels — good for a gallery-sharp print up to 8.7 × 12.8 in. That is roughly life-size: the woodblock print itself measures about 9.9 × 14.6 in.Woodblock prints were made to be printed again and again — a reproduction is in keeping with the whole point of the thing. Keep the paper tone warm. A printer that bleaches the ground to white-white flattens it into clip art.
On the receipt
- Artist
- Kitagawa Utamaro
- Date
- ca. 1804
- Medium
- Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Size
- 14 3/5 x 9 29/32 in. (37.1 x 25.2 cm)
- Museum
- The Met · Asian Art
- Accession
- JP555
- License
- Public domain · CC0 1.0
- Source
- Museum record ↗
More Kitagawa Utamaro
All 14 →
A Woman Weaving, Seated at a Hand Loomca. 1796Free · sharp to 8.7 × 12.8 in at 300 dpi, uncropped
A Young Woman Reading A Letter1790sFree · sharp to 4.7 × 6.7 in at 300 dpi, uncropped
Catching fireflies (Hotaru gari)ca. 1796–97Free · sharp to 13.3 × 6.5 in at 300 dpi, uncropped
Couple in an Evening Shower, From the series Three Evening Pleasures of the Floating Worldca. 1800Free · sharp to 5.9 × 13.1 in at 300 dpi, uncropped