Description
Suddenly, coming out from under the bamboo curtains, a very pretty Chinese kitten came out running […]. The cat, perhaps because not yet completely domesticated, had on its collar a long string that dragged with it and caught and wrapped itself here and there, until at a certain point the edge of the bamboo curtain rose and a standing figure appeared: the Third Princess […]. She was so small and petite that her clothes seemed too long for her, and her figure and profile, between the flowing of her hair, had an indescribable, noble grace […]. The cat meowed desperately and when she turned around, the expression on her face immediately revealed her carefree, attractive youth.
This very refined woodblock print by the artist Toyohara Chikanobu (豊原周延), dedicated to the aforementioned scene from chapter 34 of the famous Genji Monogatari (源氏物語), is the right panel of a triptych entitled “The Imperial Second-Rank Princess, Lady Sannomiya” (二品親王女三宮).
The work, printed in January 1890 by the publisher Hasegawa Tsunejiro (長谷川常二郎), despite the obvious signs of aging and a general patina of time, is in overall good condition.
