Beauties as Shopkeepers Selling Prints, “Shopkeepers” (Shōnin), from the series An Up-to-Date Parody of the Four Classes (Imayō mitate shi-nō-kō-shō)
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.In this print shopkeepers, one of the four classes of Edo-period society, are represented by the employees of an enterprise that sells single-sheet prints and illustrated books. Kunisada, however, has replaced the expected contingent of male workers with fashionably dressed townswomen—leading viewers, past and present, to reflect on gender stereotypes—in an echo of the companion print showing a printmaker’s studio.
Artwork Details
- 歌川国貞画 「今様見立士農工商 商人」
- Title: Beauties as Shopkeepers Selling Prints, “Shopkeepers” (Shōnin), from the series An Up-to-Date Parody of the Four Classes (Imayō mitate shi-nō-kō-shō)
- Artist: Utagawa Kunisada (Japanese, 1786–1864)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: 1857, 8th month
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Triptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban
- Dimensions: Frame: 22 1/8 × 38 5/16 in. (56.2 × 97.3 cm)
Image: 14 1/2 × 10 in. (36.8 × 25.4 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Lent by Lee E. Dirks
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art