『東京築地舶来ぜんま い大仕かけきぬ糸をとる図』|Imported Silk Reeling Machine at Tsukiji in Tokyo

Utagawa Yoshitora

4th month, 1872 · Triptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

Casper Müller, a Swiss expert based in Yokohama, was employed by the prestigious and financially successful Ono Silk Filature Company to build a modern silk reeling factory in Tokyo. Yoshitora’s complex triptych serves as a precious record of its activities. The young female workers first empty baskets of cocoons into vats of steaming water, and then locate the thread ends from several cocoons in order to reel them onto a spinning frame.

Artist

Utagawa Yoshitora

Date

4th month, 1872

Medium

Triptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1959