Two Women on a Balcony

Two women stand on a balcony beside a shoji screen, one in a brown floral kimono with a red under-robe holding a folded paper, the other in a blue floral robe with a red-and-white striped collar and green-striped skirt; a seated figure at right, partly cut off, holds a shamisen. Text panels with Japanese characters and a red seal appear at the upper right, and a pine branch grows up from the lower edge of the balcony railing. The palette is dominated by muted brown, blue-grey, red, and ochre tones against a pale grey sky band. Katsukawa Shunchō, *Two Women on a Balcony*, 1770, color woodblock print.