Paul Binnie Kiyonaga's Pipe

Paul Binnie “Kiyonaga's Pipe” artwork
Kioynaga no Kiseru (Kiyonaga’s Pipe) plays with the basic blocks of Tasogare (Twilight) and adds a motif taken from a triptych design by Torii Kiyonaga of the later 18th century. The original print shows a group of beauties enjoying a spring snowfall, and the central figure reaches up with her long bamboo pipe to the newly formed icicles hanging from the eaves to knock them off. Here it is as if the tattoo is reaching up to the long silver earring of the model, printed with silver, to tap it with her pipe. Pipes appear on the floor cushion and as the seal, and of course in the cartouche too, while the baren sujizuri background in swirling, shaded black and grey is shared with all the designs of the Edo Zumi series.
Paul Binnie
Artist
Paul Binnie
Title
Kiyonaga's Pipe
Japanese title
Kiyonaga no kiseru 清長の煙管
Series title
A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo
Japanese series title
Edo sumi hyaku shoku 江戸墨百色
Date
Medium
Colour woodblock print on paper
Paper dimensions (h × w)
43 × 30.8 cm
Image dimensions (h × w)
Edition size
100
Carver
Paul Binnie
Printer
Subjects
Beautiful Women (Bijin 美人)
Tattoos (Irezumi 刺青)
Remarks
References
Metropolitan Museum of Art collection
Catalogue number
123 (L147)
Supplementary images