Woodblock printing

Early woodblock print book illustration

Woodblock printing is a way of printing images or text. It is common in East Asia. In Japan, ukiyo-e is the best known art woodblock prints.

Woodblock Printing Media

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  The intricate frontispiece of the Diamond Sutra from Tang dynasty China, the world's earliest printed text containing a date of production, AD 868 (British Library)

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  A fragment of a dharani print in Sanskrit and Chinese, c. 650–670, Tang dynasty

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  Replica of The Great Dharani Sutra, the oldest printed text in Korea, c. 704-751

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  The Hyakumantō Darani, the oldest printed text in Japan, c. 770

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  Bronze plate for printing an advertisement for the Liu family needle shop at Jinan, Song dynasty (960-1279). The world's oldest extant print advertising medium.

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  Illustration from Painting Manual of the Garden as Large as a Mustard Seed (c. 1679–1701), by Wang Kai, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

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  Morning Shine on the Western Ridge (1714-1715), by Matteo Ripa, National Palace Museum, Taipei.

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  Under the Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai, a ukiyo-e artist