• <i>Aizuri-e</i> - a courtesan holding a pipe (<i>kiseru</i>) watches a pair of ducks, from the series 'Five Modern Beauties' (<i>Tōsei gonin bijo</i> - 當世五人美女)
<i>Aizuri-e</i> - a courtesan holding a pipe (<i>kiseru</i>) watches a pair of ducks, from the series 'Five Modern Beauties' (<i>Tōsei gonin bijo</i> - 當世五人美女)
<i>Aizuri-e</i> - a courtesan holding a pipe (<i>kiseru</i>) watches a pair of ducks, from the series 'Five Modern Beauties' (<i>Tōsei gonin bijo</i> - 當世五人美女)
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Utagawa Toyokuni II (二代目歌川豊国) (artist 1777 – 1835)

Aizuri-e - a courtesan holding a pipe (kiseru) watches a pair of ducks, from the series 'Five Modern Beauties' (Tōsei gonin bijo - 當世五人美女)

Print

1830 – 1835
10 in x 14.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signed: Gosotei Toyokuni ga
後素亭豊國画
Publisher: Maruya Seijirō
(Marks 299 -seal similar to 27-010)
Censor's seal: kiwame
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Library of Congress
Lyon Collection - Toyokuni II aizuri-e with bats and gourds
Another example from this series There is another aizuri-e bijin print in the Lyon Collection by Toyokuni II (see related links). That woman's kimono is decorated with bats and gourds. This woman's robes are decorated with the backs of turtles, fungus (mushrooms?) and the rear views of antlered deer among large leaves - probably maple. The Chazen Museum owns another aizuri-e from this group.

There appears to be another series of prints by Toyokuni II using this same series title, but pairs beautiful women with inset pictures of famous actors. There is one such example in the collection of Tokyo Metropolitan Library.

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Illustrated in color in Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900 by Andreas Marks, Tuttle Publishing, 2010, page 118.
blue prints (aizuri-e - 藍摺絵) (genre)
beautiful women (bijin-ga - 美人画) (genre)
Maruya Seijirō (丸屋清次郎) (publisher)