Les Jades "Chinoise"

Paul Jacoulet

This petite surimono color woodcut is of woman dressed to resemble a Manchurian noblewoman is adorned in jade jewelry and elaborately embroidered black silk. Against a wall patterned in red and pink dragons, she is a striking vision of a lost era.

Paul Jacoulet, who was born in France and raised from the age of four in Japan, used exacting methods learned from ukiyo-e masters to achieve the sharp lines and vivid, precisely executed colors of his prints. He often depicted women in the traditional dress of the many countries he either visited or learned about in his extensive reading, having been confined in bed for much of his childhood, and throughout his life, due to illness. His work exhibits the influence of both Eastern and Western art, and his unique style made him highly collectible among woodblock enthusiasts throughout Europe, Japan, and the United States.