Utagawa Kunisada. Young woman arranging chrysanthemums / Fan print, c. 1830s.

Description: Bust-length portrait of a young woman shown in three-quarter view, facing to the right, engaged in arranging chrysanthemums (kiku, 菊) in an ikebana composition. Her hair is dressed in a formal shimada-style coiffure, secured with two distinct hair ornaments: a broad tortoiseshell hairpin (kotoji kanzashi, 琴柱簪) decorated with a paulownia blossom and leaves (kiri, 桐), and a slender birabira kanzashi (びらびら簪) decorated with small dangling maple-leaf motifs. She wears a blue-and-white checked kimono, each check containing seals or emblems associated with traditional Japanese painters. The flower arrangement is set in a woven bamboo basket, with a grasshopper depicted in the foreground. The figure is set against a green tie-dye textile ground with stylised red and blue Genji-mon motifs (源氏紋). Paulownia and chrysanthemum are associated with imperial symbolism; paulownia conveys connotations of fortitude and medicinal use, while chrysanthemum is traditionally associated with good governance. No publisher seal; faint remnants of censor seals (illegible) may be visible on the rightmost Genji-mon.