On 16 March 2021, ukiyo-e master Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) made waves at Christie's auction of Japanese and Korean art when his most famous work, The Great Wave off Kanagawa from the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series, sold for $1.59 million (about £1.15 million) at auction, setting a new auction record for Hokusai.
See also: A World Record for Hokusai's Great Wave
Almost exactly two years to the day, this record was broken when Christie's listed artworks from the two East Asian countries in New York on 21 March 2023. Ceramics, woodcuts, sculptures, inrō and ink paintings from the 4th to the 21st century were offered in 187 lots. A total of $11.4 million was realised, of which $4.56 million (£3.65 million) went to an important 18th-century Korean moon vase and $2.76 million (£2.21 million) was achieved by Hokusai's Great Wave, which was offered with an estimate of $500,000-700,000.
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Under the Wave off Kanagawa, better known as The Great Wave off Kanagawa, is the best-known work by Katsushika Hokusai and Japanese art as a whole. The image is the first sheet in the colour woodcut series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, which Hokusai began to produce in 1829. At the time, Hokusai was almost 70 years old, widowed and in need of money. With the series of woodcuts, he wanted to highlight the beauty of the mountain and the landscapes surrounding it.
See also: Ukiyo-e: The Art of Japan
As with the copy from 2021, this sheet is also an early print, recognisable by the Prussian blue used for the contours. Although it is not known how many copies of The Great Wave off Kanagawa were printed with the original wood block, experts estimate the number at around 8,000, of which only a few have survived to this day. Dr. Matthi Forrer, Senior Researcher Japan Collections at the Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, who wrote a comprehensive description of the work for Christie's catalogue, ranks the new record copy among the 20 best preserved prints of The Great Wave, which not only reproduces the title cartouche almost perfectly, but also reveals a pink cloud in the sky.
