Goldfish, from the series "Elegant Comparison of Little Treasures (Furyu kodakara awase)"

Goldfish, from Kitagawa Utamaro's c. 1797 series Elegant Comparison of Little Treasures (Furyu kodakara awase), held by the Art Institute of Chicago, belongs to one of his most sustained explorations of motherhood and childhood. The 'little treasures' of the title are the children themselves; each sheet pairs a mother or nurse with a small child engaged in some characteristic play, and here the activity is observation of goldfish, whose imported breeding had become a fashionable Edo pastime. Utamaro arranges the figures so that adult and child share a single curved silhouette over the fish bowl or basin, with the child's outstretched hand or fingertip orienting both gazes toward the small flickers of color in the water. Within his broader ukiyo-e career, this series sits alongside Mother Nursing Child as evidence that Edo bijin-ga in his late practice extended deep into domestic experience. The print's quiet humor (a precious 'treasure' regarding less precious treasures of its own) typifies Utamaro's ability to braid sentiment, wit, and acute observation in a single image.