Hokusai Great Wave Metal Bookmark

$20.95 at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

More by Katsushika Hokusai across every museum store.

This is perhaps the single most famous of Hokusai's woodblock prints - perhaps of all Japanese prints. It belongs to the series 'Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji' (Fugaku sanj_rokkei). The graceful snow-clad mountain stands out unperturbed against the deep blue of the horizon. Yet it is reduced to a tiny hillock compared with the towering strength of the wave which threatens to engulf the struggling boats. Such clever, playful manipulation of the composition is a feature on many of Hokusai's works. Details •…