Makimono Makurae (images d'oreiller). 12 peintures

12 paintings on silk on a transparent silk band of 840cm, mounted on paper and bordered in gold. Each painting 70x14cm. It seems plausible to attribute the work to Miyagawa Shunteï.
Wooden scroll on which is wound a long ribbon of 869 cm of paper. The paintings are held essentially by the margins and constitute a long silk band of 840cm. The scroll is nestled in a large green silk fabric. Some worming and stains but superb overall condition.
Late production of shunga and ultimate flowering of this creative genre, these paintings reveal a new pictorial manner never dared before. Of greater purity and greater preciosity, these paintings also reflect in these years another way of apprehending sexuality, in which woman is more equal, lover. The narrow height and very extended width of the paintings allows extremely tight shots of the couples, thus conferring greater immersion for the voyeur and more subtle representation of intimacy. The palette of colors used is very rich, ranging from pink to black, passing through different shades of green.
The scroll participates in the mystery of the progressive unveiling of the paintings. Early 20th-century Shunga are rather rare because the censorship exercised by the authorities was very repressive at this time, shunga being considered a stain on Japanese civilization.