# Two Young Women Playing Cat's Cradle

**Isoda Koryusai** (Japanese, 1735–1790)  
c. 1769  
Color woodblock print; chuban  
26.1 × 19.7 cm (10 1/4 × 7 3/4 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1925.2211. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/21311).

## About this work

Isoda Koryusai designed this in about 1769, aged about 29. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

A work made of color woodblock print; chuban.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Colour woodblock print.** In Japan these were a team effort. The artist drew the design, a carver cut it into cherry-wood blocks, one block for each colour, and a printer brushed on the pigment and rubbed each sheet by hand. Full-colour prints of this kind were called nishiki-e, “brocade pictures”, from the 1760s on.
- **Chūban.** A medium Japanese print size, about 26 × 19 cm, roughly half an ōban.

### [Isoda Koryusai](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/isoda-koryusai)

Japanese, 1735–1790

## Facts

- Type: Print
- Culture: Japan
- The artist was about 29
- Real size: about 10 × 7½ in (26 × 19 cm). The 8 × 10 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 18th century
- Movement: [Ukiyo-e](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/ukiyo-e)
- Subjects: Japanese (culture or style)
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/82.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/82/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/two-young-women-playing-cat-s-cradle-aic-21311).