Key value factors: As self-carved and self-printed works, sosaku-hanga value is tied to the artist's reputation and edition size. Larger formats, earlier editions, and historically significant works command the highest prices.
"Mosquito" (蚊やり, kayari — mosquito smudge/smoke, 1897) depicts the summer evening practice of burning mosquito-repelling incense or smudge materials to drive away the season's most unwelcome inhabitants. The kayari — the fragrant smoke rising from burning herbs or specially prepared repellent materials — was a characteristic summer domestic scene, and Shuntei renders its specific ritual: the arrangement of the burning material, the figures seeking relief from the insects in its smoke, the evening light of a summer scene where the domestic and the seasonal were intimately combined.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Mosquito — 蚊やり was created by Miyagawa Shuntei (宮川春汀) in 1897.
Mosquito — 蚊やり depicts figures, bijin-ga, and daily life.
