安達吟光画　『貴女裁縫之図』|Ladies Sewing (Kijo saihō no zu)

Adachi Ginkō

September 3rd, 1887 · Triptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper · Asian Art

The sewing machine is the featured attraction in this print of upper-class women making and ironing clothing. Sewing machines were a novelty in Japan in the 1870s, but by the mid-1880s, when Western dress was enforced for many government employees, seamstresses and tailors started to use Singer machines in preference to hand machines. The sewing machine was among the efficiency-improving devices that carried Western ideas concerning gender roles, progress, and technology into Japan. The Meiji empress supported imported fashions with caution but at the same time was an advocate for the development of the domestic textile industry. However, around the 1880s only the upper classes could afford expensive Western garments.

Artist

Adachi Ginkō

Date

September 3rd, 1887

Medium

Triptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1959