two linen and damask quilt backs

 

"From the age of six I had a penchant for  copying the form of things, and from about fifty, my pictures were frequently published; but until the age of seventy, nothing that I drew was worthy of notice.  At seventy-three years, I was somewhat able to fathom the growth of plants and trees, and the structure of birds, animals, insects and fish.
Then when I reach eighty years, I hope to have made increasing progress, and at ninety to see further the underlying principles of things, so that at one hundred years I will have achieved a divine state in my art, and at one hundred and ten, every dot and every stroke will be as though alive.  Those of you who live long enough, bear witness that these words of mine  prove not false. "

Hokusai's postscript  to One Hundred Views Of Mount Fugi, written at age 73