Capucine Korenberg, a scientist at The British Museum, is a big fan of ukiyo-e artist Hokusai, who lived during the Edo period in Japan. Hokusai is best known for a series of woodblock prints titled Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, which includes his iconic “The Great Wave off Kanagawa.”

Often referred to simply as “The Great Wave,” the work spawned thousands of editions—some estimates put the total output at more than 8,000—until the blocks wore out and could no longer be used. When the piece was made in 1831, people could purchase a print at a price point Korenberg compares to a “double helping of soba noodles.”

In a video, Korenberg describes how scientific analysis of the three editions in The British Museum’s collection drew her closer to the 19th-century masterpiece. She commenced a search for all existing copies to try to establish a chronology based on the specific characteristics of each impression. At the time of filming, there were 111 known versions, and a further two have been uncovered since.

The article One Scientist Painstakingly Establishes a Chronology for More than 100 Surviving Prints of ‘The Great Wave’ by Hokusai appeared first on Colossal.

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