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Group shot: 50.21, 11.21692
Apprentice Courtesan (Shinzô) (right), Female Peddler (Onna akindo) (left), from the book Comparisons of the Customs of Women (Onna fûzoku shinasadame)
Group shot: 50.21, 11.21692

Apprentice Courtesan (Shinzô) (right), Female Peddler (Onna akindo) (left), from the book Comparisons of the Customs of Women (Onna fûzoku shinasadame)

Kitagawa Utamaro I (Japanese, early 1750s–1806)
about 1795 (Kansei 7)
Medium/TechniqueWoodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; woodblock print (key block); ink on paper
DimensionsTwo vertical yotsugiri (quarter ôban) designs on uncut horizontal chûban sheet; 20.4 x 28.1 cm (8 1/16 x 11 1/16 in.)
Credit LineWilliam Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession number11.21692
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPrints
Inscriptions歌麿画 女風俗品さだめ 新造 番頭新造といへるハこの上に立ちて花魁の諸事をさばく役なり。この(絵)姿は振袖新造にて振新などゝいへり 歌麿画 女風俗品さだめ 女賣人 上方にてハ古来より女賣人(おんなあきんど)多くあれども江戸ハ近世もつぱら流行することなり。ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 - d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.