A Compendium of Model Gardens (Tsukiyama no zu niwa zukushi; Yokei tsukuri niwa no zu) 1691

This is a page from *A Compendium of Model Gardens*, made in Japan in the late 17th century by Hishikawa Moronobu. It’s an early example of woodblock printing, a technique that relies on the patient labor of carving a mirror image into a block of wood. The process dictates the aesthetic: it allows for clean, graphic lines, but not much shading or modulation. Look closely, and you can see the wood’s texture subtly coming through the ink. The black ink, likely derived from soot, provides a stark contrast to the paper, which would have originally been bright white, but has aged to a warm tan. This book was meant to spread design ideas, and implicitly, to advertise the skills of garden makers. The gardens depicted here were signs of wealth and status. But so too was the book itself, a product of skilled craftsmanship and a growing commercial economy. So next time you see a print, remember the many hands that brought it to life. The artistry of the designer is only part of the story.