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Asakusa Imado

Utagawa Kuniyoshi · ca. 1840 · The Met, New York

Public domain · CC0 · $0.003,867 × 2,694 px · 10.4 MP
Prints gallery-sharp up to12.9 × 9 inat 300 dpi, uncropped · poster-sharp to 25.8 × 18 in at 150 dpi

The download is the Met's own open-access file, served by the Met. Big file — give it a minute.

Free · $0.00Asakusa Imado by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, ca. 1840
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Asakusa Imado in a frame
16 × 20 in
Asakusa ImadoUtagawa Kuniyoshi · ca. 1840
See it over your couch →
1 · Size

2 · Frame

3 · Light

4 · Hang it right

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The size chart

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.

FrameEffective dpiVerdictCrops
10 × 8 in336Gallery sharp13%
14 × 11 in244Sharp up close11%
16 × 12 in224Sharp up close7%
20 × 16 in168Poster sharp13%
24 × 18 in149Fine across a room7%
36 × 24 in107Fine across a room4%
40 × 30 in89Too soft7%
Will it fit over your couch? Put this one on your wall, to scale — crop or mat, frame size, hang height and the order.

The ticket

Asakusa Imado is a woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797–1861), dated ca. 1840. Woodblock print; ink and color on paper. Size on the museum record: 10 1/2 x 15 1/8 in. (26.7 x 38.4 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds it in its Asian Art collection — Rogers Fund, 1917.

The Met catalogs Asakusa Imado as a woodblock print; ink and color on paper by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. The museum dates it ca. 1840; it sits in the Asian Art department as accession JP221. Its flat colour areas and strong outlines hold up from across a room, which is the whole point of the woodblock tradition. The Met's scan measures 3,867 × 2,694 pixels, which prints about 12.9 × 9.0 in at 300 dpi and 25.8 × 18.0 in at a still-comfortable 150 dpi. Its wide proportions sit naturally over a sofa, console or bed, and the crop figures in the set builder show what a standard frame would trim. 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 3,867 × 2,694 pixels — 10.4 megapixels — good for a gallery-sharp print up to 12.9 × 9 in. That is roughly life-size: the woodblock print itself measures about 15.1 × 10.5 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
Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Date
ca. 1840
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Size
10 1/2 x 15 1/8 in. (26.7 x 38.4 cm)
Museum
The Met · Asian Art
Accession
JP221
License
Public domain · CC0 1.0
Source
Museum record ↗