Two Girls on a summer evening

A nocturnal scene of two young girls outdoors on a warm summer evening, likely shown in lightweight summer kimono or yukata. The Night Scenes tag indicates the print probably uses a darker tonal register than Shuntei's daytime compositions, with the figures lit against a deeper indigo or grey sky achieved through [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradation along the upper register. Typical conventions for this kind of subject include hand-held uchiwa fans, lanterns, or fireflies as motifs that fix the season and time of day. The print belongs to Shuntei's substantial output of kodomo-e (pictures of children), a genre he developed in parallel with the [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) series for which he is documented in museum holdings. Late Meiji audiences favored such scenes of well-dressed girls and boys engaged in seasonal pastimes; Shuntei's contribution sits within that broader market alongside contemporaries such as Kobayashi Eitaku and Yoshu Chikanobu.