MIRROR OF THE VAGINA: THE GIRL WITH THE PEONY LANTERN (Utagawa Toyokuni)

Object: original Japanese woodblock print
Genre: shunga 春画 erotic art

Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni 歌川豊国 (1769-1825)
From the book: Picture Book, Mirror of the Vagina 絵本開中鏡, vol. 2 中
Print subject: In the top left inset we read: “Image of the girl with the peony lantern” 牡丹燈籠娘之像. The same lantern is placed in front of the folding screen in the bedroom. The man says that when he has sex with this woman, who comes every night, it feels like dying. And in fact, as the story continues, the figure of the woman will become a skeleton that, together with the peony lantern, will stand out in the darkness.

Material: washi 和紙 Japanese paper
Technique: nishiki-e 錦絵 multi-coloured woodblock printing

Year: later edition of a work from 1823
Condition: overall good
Dimensions: 27 x 22 cm

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