| | |
| Artist: | Utamaro 1 Kitagawa (1753-1806) — 喜多川歌麿 |
| Title: | Moatside Prostitute |
| Series: | Five Shades of Ink in the Northern Quarter |
| Date of first edition?: | 1794-1795 |
| Date of this artwork?: | 1900s (may not be accurate) |
| Publisher (first edition)?: | Unknown — 不明 |
| Publisher (this edition)?: | Takamizawa — 高見沢 |
| Medium (first edition): | Woodblock |
| Medium (this edition): | Woodblock |
| Format (first edition): | Oban
|
| Format (this edition): | Oban |
| DB artwork code: | 31278 |
| Notes (first edition)?: |
Date: Originally published by Ise-Mago, c.1794-95.
Documentation: See page 94 of Volume 1, and page 146 of Volume 2, The Passionate Art of Kitagawa Utamaro, by Shugo Asano and Timothy Clark, Chiba City/London, 1995.
Page 343 (#701) of Images From the Floating World, by Richard Lane, 1978, Dorsett 1982, among many others. This is one of Utamaro's most documented images.
A prostitute from one of the small brothels known as Kashi-mise (moatside brothels), after their location in Yoshiwara next to the culvets on the east and west edges of the Quarter and in Fushimi-cho. The price for engaging one of these women could be 1 bu (one quarter of a gold ryo), but was more often 2 shu (half a bu, or 500-600 copper coins). There were even prostitutes who cost only half this figure.
Here the woman is depicted using a toothpick, probably getting ready for her daytime stint in the brothel. The small bag of incense (kake-go or nioi-bukuro) hanging from her neck was used to disguise body odors. Signed Utamaro hitsu. |
|
| Notes (this edition)?: |
| The following information was taken from the original web listing of this artwork. Note that there may be some inaccuracies:
KITAGAWA UTAMARO
Moatside Prostitute
Publisher: Takamizawa, seal on verso.
This is a very fine quality Showa era restrike of a classic Utamaro image, part of the series Five Shades of Ink in the Northern Quarter.
Size: Oban. Overall: 11" x 16", Image: 10.25" x 15.25" (This print is just slightly larger than Utamaro's original.)
Condition: Fine, untrimmed.
Impression: Fine.
Color: Fine with good bleed through. Dark yellow ground. |
|
