| Method | |
| Artist | Utagawa School |
| Published | c.1840 |
| Dimensions | Chūhon. 180 x 120 x 6 mm |
| Notes |
Woodblock printed book. Ink and colour ink on paper. Fukuro-toji (bag-bound) binding. 20 pages. Decorative front cover portraying people looking through latticed brothel windows that have the blinds rolled down, male and female people in the foreground, followed by a page illustrated with a sake bowl and a box of hair ornaments, and introductory page of text, two double page colour illustrations, and seven single page illustrations all showing couples inside a Yoshiwara brothel, followed by a 26 page erotic story. Rubbing and soiling to covers with some loss to image and paper on the front cover, some rubbing and soiling on lower right and left corners of pages throughout. A rare shunga book depicting events in a Yoshiwara brothel. This depiction is not an accurate representation of what a man would experience in a brothel, but was intended to provide an affordable fantasy for the average Edo shunga purchaser. Shunga is the term used for the body of erotic imagery produced in Japan from 1600 to 1900. The term shunga means spring pictures, a euphemism for sex, and is one of several names for erotic material produced in Japan. Shunga took different formats: painted hand scrolls, painted books, printed books and albums, and sets of prints which were sometimes sold in wrappers. As prints they are one of the genres of ukiyo-e, or Floating World prints, which also include fukeiga (landscape prints), and bijin-ga (prints of beautiful women). Most of the major ukiyo-e artists produced shunga material at some point during their careers, including Utamaro (who produced more erotic books than non-erotic books), Hokusai, and Hiroshige. Produced at the same time as the introduction of full colour woodblock printing, shunga prints and books were made using the most lavish and complicated printing techniques, including gauffrage, metallic inks, mica, complicated printed patterns, and multicolour printing using a high number of different colours. Although prolific in its number and variety, shunga should be seen as more representative of the ideals of the ukiyo, with its emphasis on mutual pleasure, rather than as an accurate representation of Japanese attitudes and practices of sexuality. Shunga present an invitation to pleasure through the bliss of lovemaking and though largely heteronormative, they portray the full gamut of couplings, married or otherwise, often surrounded by lavish settings and objects of pleasure. Utagawa School was the largest school of ukiyo-e art founded by Utagawa Toyoharu. After Toyoharu died his main pupil Utagawa Toyokuni I took over and led the group to become the biggest and most influential woodblock school of the 19th century. Pupils include Kunisada, Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, and Yoshitoshi. Utagawa School is used an attribution when prints are unsigned and in the style of the school. Due to the punitive restrictions on shunga prints many works were produced without signatures or with pseudonyms. |
| Framing | |
| Price | £650.00 |
| Stock ID | 53286 |