Getting started with the collection:
Young Man Smoking with a Courtesan
Kitagawa Utamaro, 1799
This is the prefatory illustration to an album containing twelve shunga (erotic) prints, entitled Negai no itoguchi (The Prelude to Desire). Utamaro's speciality was the depiction of women, especially the courtesans of the Yoshiwara, the regulated pleasure district of the capital Edo (present-day Tokyo). Negai no itoguchi is considered one of Utamaro’s greatest shunga series.
- Artwork typeprint, shunga
- Object numberRP-P-2006-268
- Dimensionsheight 253 mm x width 382 mm
- Physical characteristicskleurenhoutsnede; lijnblok in zwart met kleurblokken