Beauties as Artisans in a Printer's Studio, “Artisans” (Shokunin), 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.To represent artisans, one of the four classes (along with warriors, farmers, and merchants) of the Edo period, Kunisada replaced the men more typical of the social category with women, and illustrated the interior of a woodblock printer’s studio. The figure at a table on the right carves fine lines into a woodblock through a sheet of paper bearing an artist’s preparatory drawing.
Artwork Details
- 歌川国貞画 「今様見立士農工商 職人」
- Title: Beauties as Artisans in a Printer's Studio, “Artisans” (Shokunin), 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 5/16 × 38 in. (56.7 × 96.5 cm)
Image: 14 7/8 × 10 1/8 in. (37.8 × 25.7 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Lent by Lee E. Dirks
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art