Masters of the Woodblock: Important Japanese Prints
Masters of the Woodblock: Important Japanese Prints
Kitagawa Utamaro (1754-1806) | Woman reading a letter (Fumi yomu onna) | Edo period, late 18th century
Lot Closed
July 21, 01:19 PM GMT
Estimate
40,000 - 50,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Kitagawa Utamaro (1754-1806)
Woman reading a letter (Fumi yomu onna)
Edo period, late 18th century
woodblcok print, white mica ground, from the series Ten Classes of Women's Physiognomy (Fujo ninso jupon), signed Sokan Utamaro koga (Thoughtfully drawn by Utamaro the physiognomist), censor's seal kiwame (approved), published by Tsutaya Juzaburo (Koshodo), circa 1792-93
Vertical oban: 36.8 x 24.4 cm., 14 ½ x 9⅝ in.
A women casts her gaze on a letter that she holds close to her face. She is dressed in a kimono decorated overall in a dotted matsukawa-bishi motif, accented by her yellow obi [sash] with black arabesques. Her shaved eyebrows and her frontally tied sash suggests that she is the wife of a restaurant or shop owner. Yet, her intense posture and the firm way she holds the letter hints that it may have been written by a clandestine lover. For a similar impression of the same print in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, object number A-10569_545, go to:
https://webarchives.tnm.jp/imgsearch/show/C0061231
For a further impression in the collection of the British Museum, museum number 1906,1220,0.329, go to:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1906-1220-0-329