Artwork preview

“Wife,” from the series Connoisseur of Modern Customs (Tōsei fūzoku tsū)

Kitagawa Utamaro

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The image shows a woman breastfeeding a baby. The woman has black hair styled up with a white and gold hairpiece. Her kimono is green with a white floral pattern underneath a black garment. She wears a white headband. The baby is bald and wears an orange garment. The background is a light gray color with some darker gray and brown areas. There are several lines of Japanese text on the image, one in a vertical rectangle on the top left and two on the right side. The woman's head is tilted down toward the baby. The baby is lying on its back and looking up at the woman.

Artwork Details

Date
ca. 1790
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Culture
Japan
Dimensions
422 × 625 px
Public Domain
Yes
Museum Record
View original
Palette