Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞], a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代 歌川 豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865)

Signed: Toyokuni ga (豊國画) in a red toshidama cartouche

Date-aratame seal: Year of the Dog (inu, 戌) Bunsei 9; plus Aratame (改); 1826

Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1815 – 1869); seal: san (三) in a circle

Media: Aiban yoko-e uchiwa-e (団扇絵), color woodblock print, 227 x 270 mm

Half-length portrait of a woman wiping her neck with a cotton hand towel (tenugui) decorated with a simple blue dotted pattern. She wears a red and black checked outer robe with a black collar over a red underlayer and a purple collar. A white obi with floral and pine needle motifs is visible. Her coiffure includes a red comb and decorative hairpins.

The tenugui depicted was a versatile item in the Edo period, used as a souvenir, wrapper, or headband. Although originally made of silk, a shift to cotton occurred during the Tenpō era (1830–1844), following sumptuary laws that banned luxury materials.

The upper right side of the background features a black fabric bearing a red design of two dragons encircling the kanji 大當 (ōatari, using the older form of 当), meaning “great success”. The remaining background shows stylized iris flowers (shōbu, 菖蒲) set against a wavy blue ground.