Woman and Girl with Toy, Meiji period, circa 1890s

A print from the Meiji period (circa 1890s) depicting a woman and girl with a toy — one of several versions Chikanobu produced of the domestic scene of women and children at play. Multiple versions of the same subject in an artist's oeuvre represent different printings, compositional variations, or separately documented impressions of the same design, and the existence of companion prints on the same theme reveals Chikanobu's systematic approach to popular subjects, returning to them from different angles to meet collector demand.