Two Pillows- repro

Two Pillows, identified here as a reproduction, is one of the twelve sheets in Keisai Eisen's shunga set known as 12 Shunga. The title refers to the paired wooden pillows (makura) that were placed under the necks of the lovers to preserve elaborate hairstyles during sleep and intimacy; the convention was so widespread that 'pillow book' (makura-zoshi) became a euphemism for erotic albums themselves. Eisen's design uses the two pillows as a horizontal anchor across the lower edge of the sheet, framing the entwined figures above and supplying a visual rhyme between the pair of objects and the pair of bodies. Eisen (1790-1848) was one of the most prolific shunga designers of his generation, and his erotic work is widely considered the equal of his canonical bijin-ga. As with most of his shunga, the original sheets are rare and the print preserved here in the ukiyo-e.org archive (Eisen Keisai, 12 Shunga, Two Pillows repro) is from a later facsimile edition. Stylistically the sheet exemplifies the Edo ukiyo-e shunga tradition in its late phase: elongated bodies, heavily patterned bedclothes, and a refusal of psychological distance between the lovers and the viewer. It belongs alongside the bijin-ga and landscape work for which Eisen is better known as part of the same coherent artistic project.