Kakemono of Monkey, Wine Cup and Potted Plants 1812

This ‘Kakemono of Monkey, Wine Cup and Potted Plants’, was created by Keisai Eisen in nineteenth-century Japan. It is a woodblock print, meaning that the image was painstakingly carved into a block of wood, inked, and then pressed onto paper. Notice how this process profoundly affects the final result. The linework has a deliberate, graphic quality, and the colors are flat and contained by outlines. Woodblock printing was not only a commercial technique, used to produce everything from books to advertisements, but was also a highly skilled art form. Here, Eisen uses it to capture a playful still life. The monkey, cup, and plants are rendered with careful attention to detail, but also with a sense of humor. The print doesn't just depict these objects; it also tells us about the cultural value placed on craftsmanship, and the way that everyday life could be elevated through artistry. The choice of materials and techniques is never neutral; it always carries social and cultural significance, blurring the lines between the commercial, the artistic, and the everyday.