Untitled work by Miyagawa Shuntei

This untitled woodblock print by Miyagawa Shuntei is one of a group of works attributed to him in collections without individual title records. Shuntei's documented body of work suggests that untitled prints of this kind may have served as independent bijin-ga sheets, as prints extracted from bound albums or periodical publications, or as series prints whose series title was recorded on a separate title page not preserved with the individual sheet. The late Meiji and early Taisho periods produced a high volume of such prints, often with relatively small edition sizes compared to Edo-period productions. Shuntei's figures are rendered with the clean contour line and controlled color application associated with nishiki-e, a technique requiring the sustained collaboration of designer, block carver, and printer to achieve consistent chromatic results across an edition.