Fuji Wave Design Mug

A ceramic mug featuring the iconic image of the famous Japanese print Fuji Wave by Hokusai. <br> <br> The original print is called Under the Wave, off Kanagawa ['The Great Wave'] by Katsushika Hokusai (1760- 1849). This world-famous print is from the series 'Thirty- six Views of Mount Fuji'. It is a colour woodblock that was made in Japan in around 1831. <br> <br> The remarkable image features fishermen cowering in three skiffs, almost praying in supplication to the 'Great Wave' about to crash down on them. Only Mount Fuji, low in the hollow of the wave, as if seen through a telescope, stands unperturbed by the impending catastrophe. <br> <br> The mug shows the mountain from the sea on the coast to the south- west of Tokyo, with the Great Wave off Kanagawa.

Exclusive to the British Museum, a ceramic mug featuring the iconic image of the Fuji Wave by Hokusai.

The inside of the mug continues the print of the Fuji Wave, contrasting it in dark blue to the white of the outer mug.

Kanagawa-oki Nami Ura or The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai was published in 1831 as the first in his woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. The remarkable image features fishermen cowering in three skiffs under the wave about to crash down upon them. Mount Fuji can be seen in the distance unperturbed by the impending catastrophe.

It is likely that around 5,000 prints were made from Hokusai’s woodblock, although many of the originals were destroyed during periods of war or natural disasters. An original from a later run is now housed in the British Museum, where it is only displayed for a maximum of six months every five years to prevent light damage to the colours of the image.    

This beautiful mug would make an ideal gift for art lovers.