A Young Girl Reading a Letter as a Woman Looks On
Woodblock Print
mid 1770s (made)
mid 1770s (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815) was a great print designer and painter of the Torii school whose own Kiyonaga style came to dominate the world of ukiyo-e, or 'pictures of the Floating World'. His special province was the portrayal of beautiful women. Prints depicting the daily lives of women and children with wit and parody were popular with the urban middles classes at this time, and many were based on the well-known series of Chinese paintings 'Eight Famous Views of Xiao Xiang'. This print was part of such a series by Kiyonaga, entitled 'The Eight Famous Interior Scenes'. It is a mitate-e, or 'allusion print': the cotton on the lacquered pail alludes to the evening snow of the Chinese painting. As is shown here, stretching the cotton wadding over a lacquered pail before it was made into something was one of the many jobs that women did by hand.
Object details
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| Object type | |
| Titles |
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| Materials and techniques | Colour print from woodblocks |
| Brief description | Japanese mitate-e print, mid-1770s, Torii Kiyonaga: 'A Young Girl Reading a Letter as a Woman Looks On' |
| Physical description | Prints depicting the daily lives of women and children were popular; many were based on the well-known series of Chinese paintings Eight Famous Views of Xiao Xiang, one example of which was Suzuki Harunobu's series The Eight Famous Interior Scenes. This was followed by Kiyonaga's series of which this print is part. In this mitate-e (allusion) print, allusion is made to the evening snow of the Chinese print by the cotton on the lacquered pail. As is shown here, stretching the cotton wadding over a lacquered pail before it was made into something was one of the many jobs that women did by hand. Chuban size. Signature: Kiyonaga ga |
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| Credit line | Given by Mrs Sydney D. Aris |
| Object history | This work was given to the V&A by Sydney Dorothy Aris (1884-1966) who was born in Manra Island in Kiribati, the daughter of John T Arundel (1841-1919) who had various business interests in the Pacific including the mining of guano and phosphates. Arundel and his wife Lillie named their daughter for her place of birth, Manra being known as Sydney Island at the time. It is not known how Mrs Aris acquired her Japanese objects, but in correspondence with the museum she mentions knowing Thomas B Blow who lived in Kyoto from 1906 to at least 1914 and supplied Japanese objects to many collectors in Europe. However, it is quite likely that this work was acquired in Britain or Europe where Japanese paintings and prints were circulating in great numbers by the late 19th-early 20th century. |
| Summary | Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815) was a great print designer and painter of the Torii school whose own Kiyonaga style came to dominate the world of ukiyo-e, or 'pictures of the Floating World'. His special province was the portrayal of beautiful women. Prints depicting the daily lives of women and children with wit and parody were popular with the urban middles classes at this time, and many were based on the well-known series of Chinese paintings 'Eight Famous Views of Xiao Xiang'. This print was part of such a series by Kiyonaga, entitled 'The Eight Famous Interior Scenes'. It is a mitate-e, or 'allusion print': the cotton on the lacquered pail alludes to the evening snow of the Chinese painting. As is shown here, stretching the cotton wadding over a lacquered pail before it was made into something was one of the many jobs that women did by hand. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.365-1954 |
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| Record created | December 10, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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