Hour of the Sheep, Young Girls, c. 1798-1799

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Prior to 1873, when Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar used in most

countries, a day was subdivided into twelve segments identified by
animal signs from the zodiac that originated from China. The hour of
the goat was between 1 and 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Utamaro
designed several sets of beautiful women in accordance with the
different hours of the day, the most famous of which is the series Twelve
Hours in the Yoshiwara (Seirō jūni toki) dating from around 1794 that
shows the figures in full length. This print is from a later series showing
the protagonists up close in half-length. The time of day in question is
the end of a school day, and we are probably looking at an upper
middle-class merchant family. While the older girl in the back is
engrossed in her book, the younger one at the front is presenting her
handwriting exercise with corrections noted in red to her senior.

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Details
Title
Hour of the Sheep, Young Girls
Artist Life
1753 - 1806
Role
Artist
Accession Number
74.1.155
Catalogue Raisonne
Masterpieces from the Japanese painting collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art ミネアポリス美術館 日本絵画の名品 Cat.48
Curator Approved

This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.

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