Cleaning Combs

c. late 1790s

Cleaning Combs, c. late 1790s. Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, c. 1754–1806). Color woodblock print; sheet: 38.2 x 25.4 cm (15 1/16 x 10 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore 1930.216 In this print, a mother who has put up her child's hair into a neat bun cleans the comb. By the latter part of the Kansei era, or 1789-1801, Utamaro was frequently incorporating the activities of daily life into his images of beauties. Beyond serving as portraits, and depicting the bonds between mothers and children, the prints also take the view of a detached observer in their representations of everyday settings.