color woodcut, ink, paper, 40x27 cm, signature
Woodcut depicting two beauties in private quarters, each looking into a hand mirror. The beauty on the right is using a brush to apply lipstick, while a small bowl of pigment stands on the floor beside her. Her companion holds a small round mirror in her outstretched hand, tied with a tasselled cord. Both women are elegantly dressed in several layers of colorful, patterned kimonos. The stand on the right holds a composition of blooming peonies in a blue ceramic pot. The composition is marked by delicate shading, refined color gradations and exquisite line work, hallmarks of Shunshō's artistic mastery.
Katsukawa Shunchō was a Japanese woodblock designer active from about 1780 to about 1801. His work, consisting mainly of images of beautiful women, is reminiscent of the work of Toria Kiyonagi. Shunchō also designed many prints of an erotic (shunga) nature. His works are in the permanent collections of many museums around the world, including the British Museum, Portland Art Museum, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Harvard Art Museums, Minneapolis Institute of Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art.
