Item from the Mokuhankan Flea Market

Woman Combing Hair

Size: 39.5cm by 27.0cm (15.55 in by 10.63 in) | Enlargement | Shipping Code: [L] ?

Designer: Utagawa Kunisada

Era: Mid Showa | Currency: $ / £ / €

Price: ¥ 9,000$ 70.00£ 61.00€ 71.00 [Item has been sold]

Description: This print is from a set "Beauties by Three Great Artists" which consists of 20 reproduction prints by three major beauties designers of the Edo period: Hiroshige, Kunisada, and Eisen, published by Yuyudo in 1975.

Here, Kunisada is depicting a woman combing her hair, she is probably a courtesan. The interesting aspect of the print is the position she is taking: she is bent over in half with her chest naked and only covering the lower part of her body with a red, black, and white patterned kimono and a green and red obi. We can also perceive her interior clothes and a foot peeking out. This position seems necessary so she can grab the whole of her hair with one hand and comb it correctly with the other because it is very long! this will help her make a beautiful high bun. All the rest of her combs, brushes and combing tools are on the floor on top of a mat next to what it seems a paper or a letter.

A black makeup stand with a mirror is next to her, with red clothes covering it as if they were only thrown away on top of it. There is also a blue and red roll of tissue on the upper right part of the print.

This is a touching print when we realize that we are witnessing a very intimate moment of a woman doing a very common gesture of everyday life, even if its ordinary, it is as if we don’t want to bother her.

There are a few small spots and chiri (mulberry bark scraps) on this print.

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