Shunga. Jūji wagō o-tekagami (Figures d'unions harmonieuses durant 10 heures)

Album bringing together 10 original paintings on beige silk in colors mounted on gold paper. The pastedowns of embossed and gold paper with flowers and leaves. The final work of the collection bears 2 red seals. The majority of these collections are never signed due to censorship, so it is extremely rare to find a seal, therefore the painter's signature. Each painting is a square of silk measuring 16.8x16.8cm. The erotic scenes contain no decor, no background, concentrating all attention on the couples. 3 however have drapery or a screen. The paintings are extremely stylized and finely executed, of great quality. A few fine strokes draw the figures clothed in fabrics that partially cover them. With a few red touches, the colors used are browns harmonizing with the beige background.
It is almost impossible to date this type of work precisely and it is likely older by several decades, although its very refined style seems to reflect the end of the nineteenth century in Japan.
Accordion album covered in blue silk with gold motifs. Wooden case in 2 parts (24.5x28.5cm), a base and a lid, with manuscript writing on the lid. For the album: Rubbed manuscript label. Worn corners with fabric loss. The gold paper with rubbing. In the margins the paintings have some soiling or light dampstains. It is very rare that these collections, always hidden from view, have preserved their storage box.
Compared to the well-known production of erotic prints, the paintings, while respecting a certain number of codes of Japanese eroticism (size of genitals, swooning women, fabrics partially masking nudity, sexual positions...) show greater creativity and originality, expressing more of the technique and vision of the painter. The series thus demonstrates extreme refinement and great purification, especially when compared to shunga from the Edo period. Furthermore, even if the erotic scenes respect the codes of shunga representation, one can clearly distinguish an evolution in the vision of sexuality: women hold a more equal place, and the whole tends more toward harmonious sexuality, perfectly rendered in these paintings by the choice of brown gradations punctuated with touches of more violent colors, thus representing a form of serenity inhabited by the violence of desire.
Shunga is the generic Japanese term designating erotic art, it literally means Spring Image, spring being a euphemism and figure of speech expressing sexuality. The term Shunga having long been reserved for prints, collections or albums have often been designated by the appellation Pillow Books, or pillow notes, etc. (Utamaro: The Song of the Pillow, 1788).
Precious and rare ensemble.