# Chromolithography (多色石版)

> Multicolor printing in which a separate lithographic stone is prepared for each color and the stones are overlaid in exact register. A dozen or more stones built up an intensity like oil paint and sent reproductions, labels, posters and cards into the world in quantity. The popularization of color printing begins here.

- IndexStyle No.507 — https://indexstyle.org/styles/chromolithography
- Kind: Technique · Family: Planographic Printing · Era: 1830s–1930s
- Mood: Exhilaration, Luxury, Nostalgia
- Color cues: #e9e6dd / #67635d / #171615 (cues taken from reference works, not a fixed palette)

## Defining characteristics

- Dense color built from a dozen or more stones
- Slight misregister between the stones
- Flat solids used together with stipple
- Border ornament used together with gold

## Best used for

- Using the sheer number of colors as a sign of richness
- Leaving the history of the printing process visible

## Composition recipe

- Typography & lettering: Treat the decorative display face at the same density as the border ornament.
- Layout & structure: Enclose the sheet in a border and set the main image at the center.
- Material & texture: Combine thick color from overlaid stones with gold at key points.

## What to avoid

More colors do not make it richer. The order of the stones and the register decide the result.

## Application checklist

Before calling a piece an application of this style, check it against the defining characteristics:

- [ ] Dense color built from a dozen or more stones
- [ ] Slight misregister between the stones
- [ ] Flat solids used together with stipple
- [ ] Border ornament used together with gold
- [ ] At least one reference work below has been studied directly
- [ ] The caution above ("What to avoid") has been addressed

## Related styles

- **Lithography (石版画／リトグラフ)** — Uses the repulsion of oil and water to reproduce crayon and tusche drawing from stone or plate, keeping all the softness of the hand. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/lithography
- **Victorian Ornament (ヴィクトリアン装飾)** — Builds a thickly layered system of ornament from many revival styles and the riches of industrial printing. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/victorian-ornament

## Further study

- The number of stones and the process of registration
- The move from stone to metal plates
- Its spread into yuefenpai and commercial labels

## Reference works

- リービッヒ社のトレーディングカード《ナポリの女》19世紀 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Liebig%20card%20-%20A%20Neapolitan%20woman%20with%20oranges.jpg
- ルイ・プラング社《Clark's O.N.T. Spool Cotton 広告カード》1878年 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1878%20Clarks%20Prang.png
- ギブソン社《Calliope, the Wonderful Operonicon》興行ポスター 1874年 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Calliope%20-%20The%20Wonderful%20Operonicon%20(1874).jpg

## Source of record

- Wikipedia — Chromolithography — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromolithography

## Machine surfaces

- JSON: https://indexstyle.org/api/styles/chromolithography
- Image-generation prompt (legally clean): https://indexstyle.org/styles/chromolithography/prompt.txt
- MCP: https://indexstyle.org/mcp (tools: search_styles, get_style, compose_styles; prompts: image-prompt, apply-style)

## 日本語

色ごとに石版を用意し、正確な見当合わせで重ねる多色印刷。十数版を重ねて油彩のような発色を出し、複製画・ラベル・ポスター・カードを大量に世へ送り出した。色刷りの大衆化はここから始まる。

特徴: 十数版を重ねた濃厚な発色／版ごとの見当のわずかなずれ／平坦なベタと点描の併用／縁飾りと金の併用
注意: 色を増やせば豊かになるわけではない。版の順序と見当が仕上がりを決める。