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Kayaba-chô, from the series One Hundred Beautiful Women at Famous Places in Edo (Edo meisho hyakunin bijo)

(Japanese, 1832–1891)
1857 (Ansei 4), 11th month
Medium/TechniqueWoodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
DimensionsVertical ôban; 37.6 x 25.8 cm (14 13/16 x 10 3/16 in.)
Credit LineBequest of William Perkins Babcock
Accession number00.784
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPrints
Description
Plants for the home could be purchased from the full-time commercial nurseries such as those in the Somei district of Edo; at temporary, seasonal fairs held at Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines; or from street vendors who carried portable shelves of small potted plants hanging in pairs from poles across their shoulders.  Kunisada, the top artist of beautiful women in the nineteenth century, drew the main figures for this series, with landscape insets by his pupils.  This casually dressed woman has selected a combination of Adonis plant and red plum as a suitable New Year decoration, but she is still tempted by a lovely bonsai pine tree, also appropriate to the season.
ProvenanceBy 1900, William Perkins Babcock; 1900, bequest of William Perkins Babcock to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 12, 1900)
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