Suzuki Harunobu, Evening Bell at the Clock

Completed around 1765 during the Edo period, this woodblock print is famous for being part of Harunobu's "Eight Views of the Parlor" series. The series playfully recasts the classical Chinese landscape themes of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers into ordinary indoor settings.

The print cleverly substitutes a traditional distant temple bell with the ticking of a Japanese clock standing in an interior room. This juxtaposition of classical Chinese artistic themes with mundane Edo-period objects demonstrates Harunobu's unique sense of humor.

Harunobu used a traditional Japanese woodblock printing technique, and this series is credited with helping to pioneer full-color printing, known as nishiki-e. This allowed artists to use multiple blocks to apply a broad spectrum of vibrant colors to a single print.

As an iconic piece of Edo-period art, original prints of this work are housed in major art institutions worldwide. Some of the most notable collections are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago.