To Ei (Dong Yong)

A woman in a green floral kimono with red and blue underlayers sits weaving at a wooden loom, her hair wrapped in a pale blue cloth, an open lacquer box at her feet. Behind her, an open screen or window reveals a landscape of a river, hills, a tall tree, and grazing oxen under a pale gradient sky, while an inset panel at upper left shows a cloud-borne celestial or divine figure looking down on a kneeling man. The palette is soft and muted — sage greens, dusty pinks, and pale blues — bordered by a red cloud-patterned frame; a title cartouche and columns of Japanese text run down the right and left edges. Toyohara Chikanobu, "To Ei (Dong Yong)," 1890, woodblock print.