True Reflections on the Life and Manners of a Woman (Ehon Masukagami 絵本十寸鏡) : [volumes 1-3]

Nishikawa, Sukenobu, 1671-1751 · 1748 · Kyoto : Kikuya Kihei · 36 pictures

Ehon Masukagami is an illustrated guide to women's conduct and household life, made by the Kyoto artist Nishikawa Sukenobu and published in Kyoto by Kikuya Kihei in 1748 for a general readership of women. Its woodblock pages show interiors with tatami floors, sliding screens, and ladies in layered kimono at tasks such as dressing hair, tea preparation, and letter writing, with short columns of kana text beside each scene. A designer might take its spare linework, pale ink tones, and patterned textiles as a model for quiet, domestic period imagery.

Women in art -- Japan -- Pictorial works · Japan -- Social life and customs -- 1600-1868 -- Pictorial works

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art · No known copyright restrictions · More from this library