////Suzuki Harunobu. A woman making love to a wakashu beside a folding screen / Shunga, c. 1768.

Suzuki Harunobu. A woman making love to a wakashu beside a folding screen / Shunga, c. 1768.

Artist: Suzuki Harunobu (鈴木春信, c. 1725–1770)

Signed: 春信画 (Harunobu ga), on the folding screen

Publisher: Not identified

Date: c. 1768

Media: Nishiki-e (multi-colored woodblock print), chūban, 200 x 280 mm

Interior scene with a couple on a red floor cover. A woman and a wakashu (若衆) — a youth distinguished by his hairstyle and androgynous features — are engaged in sexual intercourse in the missionary position, reclining on a red padded surface. The woman lies on her back, her green kimono open and legs bent in the air, exposing her lower body and revealing a red undergarment beneath. A padded sleeping robe (夜着, yogi) lies pushed aside. The wakashu wears a purple robe with a bamboo-under-snow motif (雪中竹, setchūchiku) and has a comb (櫛, kushi) tucked into his hair — a gesture suggestive of youth or playful intimacy.

Behind them stands a folding screen (屏風, byōbu) painted with reeds (葦) and egrets (鷺) along a shoreline. The artist’s signature 春信画 (Harunobu ga) is inscribed on the leftmost panel of the screen. A black lacquered pillow lies near the woman’s head.

SKU: SVJP-0194.2015 Categories: ,

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