Shinsui's extensive oeuvre spans bijin-ga, landscapes, and genre subjects. Auction averages over 12 months reflect healthy collector demand across all subject types.
A "bonbon clock"—the French-derived term (bonbonnière or bonne bonne) for a small, often decorative mantel or shelf clock—appears alongside or in the hands of a woman in this undated [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga). The Western clock as a prop in Japanese beauty prints signaled modernity and cosmopolitan taste, its presence a quiet acknowledgment of how thoroughly Western objects had penetrated Japanese domestic life by the Taisho and early Showa periods. Shinsui's interest in clocks as compositional elements appears in several prints, including his later "Clock and a Beauty" series.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Bonbon Clock was created by Ito Shinsui (伊東深水).
Bonbon Clock was published by Watanabe Shozaburo.
Bonbon Clock depicts figures, bijin-ga, and interiors.
