Untitled

Utagawa Toyokuni I

Date unknown · Monochrome woodblock print; ink on paper · Asian Art

Though Tokugawa sumptuary laws extended to a courtesan's bedding (yagu), this item became progressively more lavish in the eighteenth century. A contemporary writer has described embroidered futons and black silk velvet sleeping robes (yogi) lined with red crepe and padded with finest cotton. Bedding was ostentatiously displayed in brothels as a symbol of status. In this unfinished ink sketch, perhaps a leaf intended for a book of erotica, a courtesan crouches beside her cast-off sleeping robe, which is curled in the shape of her body, and pours tea for an unseen companion.

Artist

Utagawa Toyokuni I

Date

Date unknown

Medium

Monochrome woodblock print; ink on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929