Edo prints


  Design: Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806)  
  Series title: Ten Physiognomic Classes of Women  
  Unofficial print title: Woman reading a letter  
  Size: 38.0 x 25.3 cm (ōban)  
  Posthumous printing from newly cut woodblocks    
  Photography: Jacques Commandeur
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Utamaro Woman Reading A Letter

Enlargement


Special effects: white mica background.

Originally published ca. 1792-3 by publisher Tsutaya Juzaburō (1750-1797), this reproduction was published ca. 1920 under the supervision and in the studio of Hashiguchi Goyō (1880-1921) from newly carved woodblocks.

Series title in right column of the cartouche:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
fu woman  
female  
nin person  
physiognomy  
ten Ten physiognomic
hinhon article classes of women

Artist’s name in left column of the cartouche:

Character Reading Meaning Translation
       
physiognomy  
kan see  
uta poem  
麿 maro you Thoughtfully drawn
think over by Utamaro
ga picture the physiognomist

Iwa seal in lower left area of the print and red Goyo publisher seal in lower left margin.


References


Provenance: Chris Uhlenbeck’s Hotei Japanese Prints

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