Peonies and Butterfly, 1833 by Katsushika Hokusai — restored vintage print print, framed

Japanese Woodblock Prints

Peonies and Butterfly, c. 1833

Shakuyaku kanaari, from the Large Flowers series — Katsushika Hokusai

From the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Japanese prints collection · 1833

$119

Rights & provenance record

Source scan: LOC (Prints & Photographs Division, Japanese prints).
Rights statement of the archive: “No known restrictions on publication. Ukiyo-e print by an artist who died before 1930; the impression itself was published before 1930 — public domain in the United States, Japan and the EU.”
Original print: Katsushika Hokusai, 1833, 1 print : woodcut, color ; 19.2 x 17.4 cm.. Verified 2026-09-13.

This product is a new archival print made from a restored scan of that print. It is not an original antique and is not sold as one.

The story of this print

Between the Fuji series and his late work Hokusai designed a set of ten large flower prints, and this is the one collectors want: three peonies, the flower of wealth and early summer, caught in a gust of wind that bends the stems to the right and blows a butterfly past them. The flowers are printed in graded pinks with dark green leaves against a plain ground; nothing else is in the picture. It is the ancestor of every botanical print on a modern wall.

The Library of Congress impression is the Large Flowers oban of about 1833, close to square, which is why it is offered at our 20×20 size where it fits exactly. The paper has toned and the pinks have softened, and we have kept both, cleaning dust and restoring the line without redrawing.

Printed to order on archival matte paper, framed in the country of delivery.

Before and after

Left: the archive scan exactly as published. Right: the file that goes to the printer.

Peonies and Butterfly, 1833: archive scan compared with the restored print

Archive scanRestored

Restoration notes

Restoration: trimmed the mount and scanner margins, balanced levels while keeping the paper tone and the flat colour blocks of the woodblock impression (85% of the original colour retained), removed dust and specks, applied gentle sharpening. Toning, wormholes, the printer's registration and the collector's seals are kept where they belong to the object; nothing is redrawn.

Every print carries its archive credit on the packing slip. Paper tone and small imperfections of the original are kept on purpose; nothing is redrawn.

Questions

What does the print show?

Three pink peonies with dark leaves, bending to the right in a gust of wind, and a butterfly caught in the same gust above them, against a plain grey-blue ground. The Japanese title is the poem-word for peonies and a butterfly.

Is this an original woodblock print?

No. It is a new archival print made from the Library of Congress's high-resolution scan of an original Edo-period impression in its Japanese prints collection. Original impressions of these designs sell at auction for thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars; we never sell originals, and the archive record with its rights statement is on this page.

Can this print be sold legally?

Yes. The artist died in the nineteenth century and the impression was published long before 1930, so the design is in the public domain in the United States, Japan and Europe. The Library of Congress states there are no known restrictions on publication.

Does it come framed?

Yes, if you choose a framed option: a black, white or natural oak wood frame, ready to hang, made in the country of delivery. Unframed archival matte paper and stretched canvas are also available. Sizes follow the print's own proportions — 12×18, 16×24, 20×30 and 24×36 for a standard oban sheet.

Colours vary between screens and paper. The tone you see here is a close match to the archival matte print; framed prints have no glass glare in these previews.

Pairs well with

Hang them together — 10% off the second framed print

Cranes and Waves, 1833

Utagawa Hiroshige · Library of Congress

$129 12×24 in framed · paper from $49

Plum Garden at Kameido, 1843

Utagawa Hiroshige · Library of Congress

$119 24×16 in framed · paper from $39

The discount is applied automatically at checkout when two or more framed prints are in the cart.